Mind Wiped
by Son Goshen
Summary: After Portgas D. Ace's death was staged, the marines wiped him of his memories and subsequently began training him to become the most powerful weapon of the government. With no knowledge of who he really is, Ace struggles through his new life as a loyal dog of the enemy in a secret search for his past. His next mission: terminate the Straw Hat Pirates.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. I cannot make such a great story for the life of me. Nor can I draw like that. xD**

* * *

Basil Hawkins thoroughly shuffled his treasured deck of cards, mystified. No matter how many times he divined the fortune of Monkey D. Luffy, the results always came out as "alive"; it was a 100% chance that the young rookie would survive despite the odds. A frown graced his pallid face as he stared at the results. Did this extreme survival rate have to do with "D"?

Slender hands slid the pieces smoothly back and redid the process, this time divining the fortune of another. "Portgas D. Ace," he muttered, "Let us see where you shall end up. Heaven, Hell, perhaps even reincarnation?" His fingers lightly danced across the surface of the deck, feeling each card for the tingle that will inform him of the young man's fate. He drew one out, then dropped it promptly in shock.

Life.

His execution was seen all across the world, yet…?

Hawkins narrowed his eyes, wondering if it was his sixth sense fooling his mortal brain, blocking him from understanding the language of the heavens.

Shuffle. Retry. Draw.

Life.

His eyebrows knitted the process as he tried again.

Life_. _

How was this possible? Portgas D. Ace was dead; there was absolutely no doubt about it. Hawkins pursed his lips and shoved his beloved tarot cards back into his pocket. How curious.

Fate was indeed a strange one.

* * *

Under the ruins of what used to be grand Marineford, several masked surgeons were busy checking a limp form strapped down, hooking different machines to him. They were in a secret laboratory underground, intact despite the harsh tremors inflicted upon the building.

"Sir," asked a timid young soldier, "Are you sure he will survive?"

"Of course," the admiral known as Akainu snapped back irritably, adjusting his marine hat as he watched the surgeons work over the seemingly dead body. The man was strapped in place on the gurney, a gas mask already placed over his nose and mouth. He smiled slightly, triumph spreading as he watched the operation continue. Despite the fact that this plan was horribly costly, in both money and lives, it was worth it, ignoring the factor of starting a new wave of unruly pirates in search of the legendary treasure.

It was fairly simple, of course. Stage Portgas. D Ace's death.

Sengoku, of course, had heavily advised against this plan he called unethical, but the World Government unanimously passed Sakazuki's idea.

Everything had gone according to the plan, for the most part. They had won the War of the Best. Now, the most delicate process of this operation had begun, which was to "revive" Portgas through a series of organ transplants, blood transfusions, and other touchy, messy jobs they left to the most genius surgeons available under the government. Portgas would be a valuable asset, the perfect weapon for the Marines to utilize. He was ideal to experiment on, being the son of the late Pirate King, a well-known and well-loved pirate in both Grand Line and the New World. Armed with a logia devil fruit and elite combat skills, along with a sharp mind, he would have become an amazing marine had he chose the path.

Akainu watched as a surgeon jabbed the near-dead pirate with a large needle filled with a thick, clear serum. Suddenly, his body jolted, but he remained in his coma.

Although the Government had not yet perfected the technology of brainwashing, it would be enough to wipe Ace's mind clean by burying them deep in his subconscious that only a specific trigger they set could unlock them, so that they could use the pirate's precious knowledge against his allies and further understand the One Piece. Surely as Roger's son, there would be some special information they could take advantage of? Of course, the best part of all this was turning Portgas against his friends and family.

The admiral savored in the irony. "Sir!" one of the doctors called out, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Should we…?" He held up a microchip in his gloved hands.

Sakazuki replied with a curt nod.

It was simply a precaution, in case the trigger for the memories was somehow activated. Portgas had to be kept under control until they could administer another wipe.

"_Purupuru, purupuru._"

He looked down to see a yellow Den Den Mushi beeping, informing him of an incoming call. "Admiral Sakazuki," he answered gruffly.

"Have you heard yet?" was the lazy voice he recognized all too well, but there was a strange edge to the tone. "Sengoku has filed his resignation. Garp, too."

He didn't take his eyes off the workers as he replied, "Your point is?"

"What you're doing is wrong. It's unethical," Kuzan said matter-of-factly.

"I'm only following absolute justice," Sakazuki shot back, unfazed by the accusation. "This will play a large part in helping us destroy pirates once and for all."

"The Fleet Admiral position is empty now."

"I take it that you're not going to back down for it without a fight."

There was a slight pause. Then Aokiji finally said, "I'll be damned if I handed the Marines to you." He hung up abruptly.

Akainu rubbed a hand against his chin. He hadn't expected things to become like this, but if his rival admiral was asking for a fight, that was what he would get. It would certainly be to his advantage if he became the Fleet Admiral, with the entire army under his command, and direct communication to the World Government. He could reform the Marines once and for all without any interfering people like Garp, who had ties with pirates and revolutionary armies.

Now, back to business… He directed his attention back to the operation once more.

* * *

It felt like he was asleep for an eternity when he finally opened his eyes. It was disorienting, all the alien emotions and pain flooding into his mind at once. A panicked hand flew to his chest – but why? – and felt around, only to retract confusedly when he found a mess of heavy stitches instead of something else he had expected. His head was pounding with a mysterious headache, and he felt tired and sore all over as if he just went through some hardcore training. Bandages and gauze stained with blood covered his body.

What the hell happened?

And all these nonsensical emotions of pain, sorrow, fear, panic, and a myriad of unnamed feelings attacked his brain all at once. But no matter how hard he tried to recall, all he pulled out was a large, fat blank. Nothing. Nothing at all. He didn't even remember his own name, and this bout of amnesia was seriously beginning to scare him.

The young man tried to shove all this confusion down as he took in his surroundings properly. Somehow he had landed himself in a dirty and dim cell, with a tiny barred window filtering bright sunlight high above in the corner of the three walls that encircled him. He tried squinting through the heavy bar cells that closed him in and saw nothing but darkness, but he was able to make out a small set of stair cases leading upwards. His neck, wrists, and ankles were all shackled to the wall, cuffed so tightly they cut through the gauze and skin, blood seeping sluggishly out. The seastone was making him feel drained of power, his insides hollow and cold. If he had consumed a devil fruit, he didn't remember it.

Swallowing drily, the man attempted to stand, only to fall unceremoniously into a heap none too gently onto the stone floor. "Okay," he said experimentally to himself, then cleared his throat, surprised to find his voice very hoarse. Gingerly climbing into a sitting position, he adjusted his collar.

First things first, get the heck out of this prison. Then try to understand the situation.

He tugged on the heavy cuffs that restrained his hands and found a strange symbol that resembled a seagull. It struck a sense of anxiety in him, telling that this was bad news, something he should've avoided at all costs. It belonged to the enemy.

But who? He didn't remember.

His head snapped up as he heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming from up ahead, steadily growing louder. By the stairs emerged a stern, mid-aged man dressed in a red suit, a bright splash color in the dull cell. A white coat was draped over his shoulders, with a matching cap that had the blue words MARINE written on it.

His body tensed and his fists curled together tightly, and he took in a sharp breath. An irrational combination of fear and hatred shot through him just by looking at this man. Who was he? The young man felt as if someone injected ice into his veins as he stared at the older.

_Stay calm,_ he told himself, but he was beginning to panic anyways. His breathing quickened when the man met his gaze evenly with a cold, piercing stare that frightened him.

"Do you remember me?" the man demanded.

He swallowed nervously and shook his head.

Pleased by the answer, the other allowed himself a small smile. "Good. I am Fleet Admiral Sakazuki of the marines, and from now on you will address me as sir."

He looked blankly back. They were the marines?

The grim man continued, "You are to become the secret weapon of the marines, the best of the best. Your sole goal in life is to serve under me, the fleet admiral, and follow every order, whether to carry out simple duties to capture pirates or to murder."

Killing people? The phrase gave him a sick feeling.

"You will remember yourself by the name Gol D. Ace, but do not give it out to any others."

The name was familiar to him, but instead of being happy that he now knew what he was called, it felt strange, like it didn't exactly fit or belong to him. It just was different.

"Questions?"

This man, Sakazuki, was expecting him to be a loyal dog without giving any reasons or explanations. "What if I refuse?" Ace replied quietly, wondering what sort of response he would receive.

Sakazuki did not look amused in the slightest at this answer. He snapped loudly, and within moments six soldiers hurried down from the stairs. They got into a line formation and stood there stoically, awaiting a command.

The fleet admiral turned to his soldiers. "I want him to be prepared by tomorrow," he ordered.

"Yes sir!" they shouted in unison, snapping a salute. Sakazuki left without another word, his jacket billowing out behind him as he slowly disappeared from view.

Ace suddenly had the feeling that he would be better off dead.

* * *

**Happy New Year's Eve! It's also going to be Ace's birthday tomorrow! Anyways... this plot bunny has being floating around my head and bothering me for a while, so prepare for one heck of a crazy ride, and it's the first time I'm writing yaoi. This story will take place after the two year time skip, but before Punk Hazard so I don't screw up crap since we're still in the middle of the arc. Warning: I'm going to be mean to Ace. **

**Hopefully I portrayed Akainu correctly, and hope you guys enjoyed the opening chapter! Review, maybe? :D **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.**

**Forewarning: Very dark. Suicide attempts, subtle hints of torture, slavery, etc.**

* * *

Ace observed the glass shard he held in his hands, running a calloused thumb over its rough edge. A thin line appeared, a drop of blood oozing out. Taking a deep breath, he brought the shard to his extended wrist, flipping it over and pressing the edge to where his artery was. Just two quick slashes and it'll all be over. Slowly, he pressed into the warm flesh, preparing to drag it down in a clean slice when the alarm rang. The loud, blaring siren forced him to drop his makeshift knife abruptly from shock. He watched in disappointment as it shattered into a million pieces upon contact with the tiled floor.

So close, yet so far.

He glared viciously at the innocent looking surveillance den den mushi that sat on the desk of his miserable excuse of a room. The stupid snail was transmitting his every move to the observation room, like always, and soon enough there'd be a marine officer charging in and asking if he was alright. His door suddenly slammed open with a loud bang. He sighed in resignation as a young officer dressed in the standard uniform dashed over to him and snapped a quick salute.

"Sir! Are you alright?" he asked frantically, eyes darting around the room for a trace of an invader, and scouring Ace's body for any sign of injury. His eyes widened in alarm when he took in the slightly bleeding wrist and darted out the room once more, no doubt to holler out for medic.

Ace sighed again. It was only a small cut, no need for attention. But no doubt the doctor would be suspicious and check him all over, due the unfortunate streak of suicide attempts he had built up over the last two years. The surveillance was going to increase for another few days again in case he tried something else, then die down until he gets close, and the pattern would repeat over and over again. He'd gladly step in front of the sea train to end this.

Within moments, the officer had ushered in a doctor that had treated Ace's injuries several times in the past, and he didn't look a bit surprised to see the blood seeping out of his wound. He watched as the elderly man worked expertly, wincing when he cleaned the wound with alcohol. No matter how many times he had gotten that treatment, he still couldn't get used to the sting. The doctor tied a neat knot, took a bow, and took a step towards the door…

… only to crash head on to another soldier that had dashed into Ace's room.

The young man hid his smile as he watched the two get clumsily on their feet and rubbed their heads in pain. The doctor left hurriedly, but not without glaring poisonously at the marine. The latter, meanwhile, turned to Ace and saluted. "Sir! Fleet Admiral Sakazuki requests you to report to him immediately."

Even after two years, hearing anything about his commander (or slave master, as he'd rather think) would still give him chills. The man would appear as a leader with an iron fist, fighting strongly for what he believed in, but few had ever seen the sadist streak that he hid well behind the thirst for blood of pirates. His methods he had to keep people, specifically Ace, in line, were persuasive to say the least. Or maybe it was just him that Akainu loved to play around with, he didn't know.

He shivered inwardly, wondering what sort of thing the sadist fleet admiral had cooked up for him yet again. Putting on an expressionless face, he marched towards the office on the other wing, where Akainu would be waiting for him. As he steadily approached, he couldn't help but notice the amount of people walking around had lessened. Of course, there wasn't a person that was afraid of the fleet admiral; the further away one was to him, the happier they would be.

Ace stepped cautiously into the room, eyeing his official warily to gauge the older man's emotions. Sadly, Sakazuki also had a smooth mask, his eyes completely unreadable. It was the worst when you couldn't tell what was coming, but judging from experience he was probably planning something, and whatever it was it certainly wasn't praise.

"Gol D. Ace, reporting," Ace said with a salute, acting out of protocol.

"Your last mission was to execute the noble family in Alaric," Akainu said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Ace wanted to flinch. Heavy disappointment and irritation practically oozed from his superior's words. The younger gulped and said, "Yes sir."

"I believe the two had a son at the age of seven."

He nodded, feeling cold sweat breaking out.

Akainu continued, "However, a small team was dispatched to check up on the job. You know what they found?"

To lie or not to lie, that is the question. "I don't, sir," Ace replied, his emotions barely kept under check. What if?

The magma man frowned. "Their son was _alive_." He spat out the last word as if it was venom, and he was now scowling, discarding his previous blank demeanor completely away.

Oh god. They found him.

"We cannot let anyone who witnessed this survive, in the possibility that your identity will be compromised along with the dirtier duties of the marines." Akainu tapped a red button strapped onto a den den mushi that sat unblinking on his desk. "Take him in," he commanded into the sitcom.

The boy was only seven.

The door behind him slid open, and Ace whirled around to see two soldiers dragging in a limp boy. His breath caught in his throat.

The child's black bangs were matted and slick with grease, eyes half closed and glazed over in pain. Every breath he took was labored, his legs barely supporting him as he was dumped on the floor. His heavily bruised and swollen face was contorted in pain as he used his arms to keep himself somewhat upright, one of them bent in a crooked and unnatural angle. His white shirt had been reduced to tatters that hung stubbornly onto his bleeding back, dyed red with blood.

Ace told him to run. He thought he did.

"I'm curious," Sakazuki said in a genuinely interested tone. "Why did you spare him?"

Besides the fact it's horribly immoral to kill a mere child? Ace wanted to scream in rage. For some reason, the kid had reminded him of another person he only saw in his dreams, someone he knew without a doubt belonged to his past. He looked so similar, with the same young, naïve black eyes that stared up to him in wonder. The child simply radiated happiness and innocence, inevitably drawing in Ace, who was corrupted and filled with misery. No matter how he tried to harden his heart, he couldn't bear to kill him. It just wasn't possible.

Ace didn't reply.

"Does he remind you of someone?"

He stared wildly at his commander. Was it possible that Akainu could read his thoughts? He knew that the man was responsible for all of this mess he was in and definitely his lost memories. It was reaffirmed again when he saw the tiniest hint of a smirk upon his lips, the slightest shift to satisfaction in his cold eyes.

"What-" Ace began, but was cut off with a wave of the other's hand.

"Finish the job," he commanded.

"… Big brother?" The child looked up. Although he sounded terrified, his eyes were filled with so much trust.

He just called Ace big brother, just like someone Ace used to know. He couldn't kill this boy. "No."

"What?" Sakazuki sounded mildly surprised; it was rare for Ace to defy his orders like this.

"No," the younger said louder this time. "This is wrong."

"There's nothing wrong with this," the other said with a hint of amusement. "You have killed children before, and this one is no different. He cannot be allowed to live."

Stay calm, he told himself, stay calm now. He had to.

"But if it's honestly that undoable…" One of the marines drew a standard issue gun and had it pointed to the child. "I'll just let someone do it for you."

"Fire."

Then, maybe time had slowed down, or maybe it simply sped up, Ace couldn't tell, but he saw the soldier pull the trigger. He distinctively heard someone scream out "No!", or maybe it was himself, and to his surprise, he felt a large shockwave of energy from himself burst out. The world turned grayscale. The soldiers crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Time reverted back to normal again as he lunged forward to catch the falling boy.

Yet to his horror, he felt a familiar warm wetness that coated the younger's back, spilling out steadily. Ace drew back a hand and found it covered in redness, dripping down onto the unblemished white tiles. The boy's breath was now coming in as gasps, his eyes widened in surprise, yet as he caught sight of Ace's horrified face, he smiled lightly despite the pain he had to be in. "Thank you," he whispered, "for giving me a chance." His eyes slowly slid close, and his breath stopped completely. The blood continued to flow.

It can't be. This wasn't happening.

Those last words continued to echo in his head as he cradled the body in his arms, and he heard the steady drip of the blood on the tiles. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he knew that his uniform was probably also stained with the ruby liquid.

Guilt flooded him.

Why did he thank Ace? Ace didn't manage to save him. He killed his parents, and the boy himself. He wasn't a savior, he was the Devil. Ace stared blankly at his hands, wondering how many times was it already since he had stained them with the blood of the innocent, how many times had he murdered and cut off a bit of his soul and sanity. Every time he had a choice, a choice he never took in favor of his own wellbeing.

He was so vile. So selfish. So disgusting for doing these things.

And yet he was still thanked.

No.

So lost in thoughts, he barely registered other soldiers rushing in, pulling the dead body away from his frozen arms, forcing him roughly on his knees.

"I didn't think you'd commit an act of disobedience after all the discipline I had drilled into you."

The cruel words only brushed past him. Ace was too dumb to comprehend him properly and stayed silent, still drowning in his own emotions and remembering those final words.

"You took down the entire east wing of soldiers with your surprise burst of haki."

He should've ended the boy in a swift, painless death instead of what he was subjected to. But Ace was so blind to see that, to not foresee what happened if his impromptu plan had fallen apart. He had let him suffer because of his stupidity, all the extra pain the child didn't need. He was just seven, the same age as…

He blinked, feeling a sudden stinging pain.

Akainu was staring down at him with irritation again, hand semi-raised.

He just slapped him on the cheek.

Overwhelming fury filled Ace's head briefly. The act itself wasn't very painful to other things he had been subjected to, but it was like been treated like a mere dog to be slapped like this.

"I will not tolerate this behavior again," his officer snarled angrily, and for a good measure, aimed a sharp, haki-imbued kick to his ribs that knocked the breath out of him. It was going to leave a good-sized bruise for a few days, Ace was sure.

He smiled morbidly in response, knowing that as much trouble as he caused, the magma man would never get rid of him, after all the trouble they went through to obtain and train him. He was the marine's secret weapon, and Akainu knew that fact as well as he did.

"Take him away."

A sudden jolt of electricity ran through his body, then came the soothing feel of the tranquilizer running through his veins before his world went black.

* * *

Two weeks later, Ace found himself on duty, an actual real and honest marine work, which throughout his entire short career as a soldier he had never done. All he did was dirty work, executing unwanted people behind the scenes, assassinating leaders to force the country under the World Government's control, and other truly despicable work.

He was surprised that Akainu had decided to put him on the task, but knew there were probably other notions the fleet admiral had kept hidden from him. The thought that his commander simply assigned this because he thought Ace needed a break was hysterically ridiculous.

Ace's orders were simple: stay at Elysia for two months and capture any pirates that come that way.

Elysia was an island located just at the beginning of the New World, often serving as a rest stop of some sorts before pirates fully took a step into the turbulent land ahead, the ideal place for restocking supplies and taking a break. This would've become perfect for marines to capture the lawbreakers if not for the fact that the inhabitants had a severe dislike of soldiers in general. The dispatched team would be going undercover, taking a limited amount of weapons and forgoing the uniform.

The moment they set foot on the island, the leader of the mission had ordered them to wander around and not clump together, to avoid drawing attention. Do not alert others unless backup is dire to the situation. These instructions suited Ace perfectly, since he didn't like the leader nor the other soldiers.

He had taken up sitting by the beach for the past two weeks, occasionally meeting his fellow colleagues now and then, but generally staying away from them all. He loved the refreshing scent of the sea, the wind blowing through his locks of hair, the cry of seagulls above head, and the way the waves lapped. Something about the ocean just drew him in. To him, it symbolized freedom, the thing he wanted most desperately out of all things. Some days he wished he could sail away and become a pirate; they had the most freedom of all even if they turned their backs on law and order and became fugitives in the government's eye.

The days passed slowly, with no pirates in sight. It was either there were none, or they hid well and left before any of them could capture them. Ace morbidly thought it was probably the former, as most pirates don't even reach Sabaody before they died, got captured, or quit. Even if they got to the New World, the chances of surviving became lower, and it was a matter of time before they were all killed, captured, or joined ranks with one of the Yonko to stay alive before it was too late.

He stretched in the sand, yawning as he did. A tiny object caught his eye on the horizon. He spotted a ship bobbing in the distance, no doubt heading for this island. Squinting, he made out a strange looking mast head that was either a sunflower, or someone's failed impression of a lion head. A black flag was fluttering in the wind, and Ace saw the tell-tale sign of a pirate, a personalized Jolly Roger. This specific one had a straw hat with a red ribbon wrapped around.

In his mind, the image of a teenage kid popped in his head again. He donned the exact same hat and said, "C'mon, Ace, let's go beat up that tiger! It looks so yummy!" With that large, goofy smile on his face he charged into the forest.

Ace frowned at the strange memory. Did this kid become a pirate, or was this simply a coincidence? But then, straw hats aren't that uncommon, right? Besides, he remembered a couple of soldiers mentioning some infamous crew called the Straw Hat Pirates, who were rumored to be dead two years ago until they appeared again at Sabaody. Supposedly, the captain also had the hat. Before he could eavesdrop further, the soldiers had shut up because Akainu was lurking around the mess hall.

… Wait… That meant the ship he just saw must be the Straw Hat Pirates. They had just emerged recently again at the famous archipelagos, which meant the next leg of their journey would be to pass Fishman Island, then to here.

Ace jumped up. The captain might have some connections to that kid, because he honestly didn't know how far the dreams dated back, and for all he knew they occurred right before he had been taken in. Maybe, just maybe, if he confronted them now, he would get answers at last.

* * *

**Akainu and Ace probably seems OOC or something, but then again I think this is what Ace would be like if he had actually gone through this. I doubt he'd be all bright and cheery like he used to be. Akainu's personality was never fully delved into, so I took advantage of that fact to add a sadist side, which I think fits him. Also, please note that this island Elysia did not exist, I simply created it to not mess up what happens in Punk Hazard and after since the arc is still ongoing at the moment. Please don't kill me for being mean to Ace… I might have to up the rating… Let's just see how much worse it gets.**

**Hope you guys like the chapter, and please review! :)**

**~Shen **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece! And I don't like repeating myself! *glares pointedly at Disclaimer.**

* * *

"_We will definitely live life without regrets!" The young child pronounced those words with confidence as he watched the cool ocean waves lap against the shore._

And with that, Ace blinked back to life, sitting up abruptly in confusion. He glanced down, seeing rumpled blankets and a clean white bed, his surroundings having changed completely. Instead of calming ocean waves, a smooth beach, and nice warm sun rays, he was instead met with drab gray walls filled with bare necessities, and a simply crafted door that lead to a shabby bathroom. Running a calloused hand through his tousled hair, he saw that somehow he had wound back in his small, plain motel room. The freckled man couldn't remember walking to here, much less walking out the beach-

Oh. It must've been his narcolepsy that hit again. Thinking back, he remembered a brief flash of sudden fatigue, then he passed out before even hitting the sandy ground. At least some of his co-workers had the decency to drag him back here, though it was probably more out of duty than generosity. He yawned, knowing he probably didn't need to sleep properly tonight again.

Now, what was that dream again? It wasn't the first time he had dreamed of that scene, nor would he think be the last. Those words echoed in his head and refused to dissipate; some part of Ace knew it held a substantial amount of significance to himself as he was the one who said it, but he could never remember it clearly enough to recall who he was saying it to, nor the place where he was at. But there was a certain calming feel to it that told him wherever it was, that place was the closest he could call as home. The more he tried to think about his memories, the more his head hurt, and soon he had a literal headache that formed. It was as if there was a mental block on his brain that purposely stopped him from accessing his past; this was no doubt one of the effects of the mind wipe he was subjected to.

Ace suddenly jumped out of his bed hurriedly as he realized what he was about to do before he blacked out. "Shit!" he cursed out loud, one hand adjusting his shirt collar, the other twisting the polished doorknob that led out to the room. He sprinted down the halls and through the door, muttering quick apologies to any bystanders he had accidentally shoved roughly aside. But just as he got outside into the town, he skidded to an abrupt halt when a problem sprung up. He had absolutely no clue on how long he had been asleep for, so chances of the Straw Hat Pirates still around the docks were next to zero. Hopefully they hadn't set sail yet and would decide to spend a night, instead of leaving right after they got what they needed.

As he was about to take another step to begin wandering around the city and hope to bump into someone, the baby den den mushi sliming in his pocket began to ring. He sighed; it was as if fate was purposely trying to stall him from discovering his past. Maybe Akainu was secretly a god and could monitor him everywhere even beyond a dozen security cameras, having soldiers spy on him every day, and that stupid chip his body to track his every movement. Fucking paranoid bastard. He could just see his official with the same stern expression on his face as he stated grimly, "Gol D. Ace is a wild card. We simply cannot let him out of our sights, not even for a brief moment."

Cursing bitterly under his breath, he drew out the den den mushi, reminding himself to wash his hands later as this snail seemed unusually slimy. "Ace reporting, sir," he said into the phone.

The snail wore a funnily strict expression as it said in his current commander's gruff voice, "I'm calling in a meeting of all soldiers now in the southern inn."

"Why is that, sir?" Ace asked curiously, then reprimanded himself mentally. One does not simply question his officer because this one may very well tattle to Akainu.

Lucky for him, this guy didn't particularly seem to mind as he replied, "The Straw Hat Pirates has entered the island. Their crew is too powerful for one or two soldiers to handle, so we will formulate a plan to take them down and capture them. They are to be executed."

Executed? They were pirates, and from what he heard they weren't exactly greedy or bloodthirsty like the typical type that went around pillaging and looting. He didn't see the need to have them executed, as even worse pirates gotten permanent sentences to Impel Down, not death. Maybe the Government had a personal grudge against them. The morbidly optimistic side of him knew that this would give him ample time to question them after they had gotten captured. "Yes, sir!" It was probably a good idea if he didn't voice his questions to his superior before the man got irritated.

Almost as if he had heard Ace's thoughts, the marine added, "These are Fleet Admiral Sakazuki's personal orders, so I suggest we all carry this out flawlessly." There was a click, and Ace stuffed the snail unceremoniously back in his pocket, wiping the slime onto his pant leg.

There was definitely a hidden motive behind this operation then, he was sure.

He grimly pondered all the possibilities for this meeting while he took off with borderline inhuman speed towards his destination, as his commander explicitly said he did _not _want _anyone_ to interact with each other while they were here. Surely the Straw Hat Pirates weren't that powerful were they? He was pretty sure they could also just do it the dirty way, sneak up in their room during the night and slit their throats (which was a horribly primitive method that Ace didn't prefer to use).

Within moments he had arrived in front of what he knew as the captain's door and skidded to a halt. Knocking sharply, he stood there waiting as his heart returned to a normal rate.

The door swung open and he stepped in, seeing that he was the last one to arrive. All of the other soldiers had all assembled in the middle of the cramped room, each dressed up as normal civilians. They all regarded the leader with respect, casting a brief disdained look to him as if saying, "You're late!"

"Ace reporting, sir!" he said with a salute when the door slammed shut behind him. He retreated into a wall corner and slid down, content with his position behind everyone else. It had become somewhat of a habit for him to be unseen and blend in with everything else, in order to perform a lot of the missions he usually got, and from experience he knew the less attention someone gave to you, the smaller the chance of getting picked out and be remembered.

"Like I was saying," his superior resumed talking, a hand running through his rumpled black hair, "the Straw Hat Pirates have docked on this island, and it is our duty to capture them and send to prison as with all good-for-nothing pirate scum."

Ace didn't really like how this man often spoke. He exaggerated and showed heavy bias those who deemed below him, using derogatory terms such as scum to refer to the lowly criminals; this was effective in riling his soldiers, but rude. He always took personal offense when another person spouted incorrect facts about pirates.

"However, their captain, as well as the rest of the crew, has monstrously powerful abilities, which lead to several incredible yet horrific feats. As you have all heard, two years ago they attacked Enies Lobby, utterly destroyed the place, and declared war on the government just to retrieve a captured member. Excluding Nico Robin, their crew only numbered seven. The captain himself had broken in and out of Impel Down and was part of the-" He suddenly coughed and broke off, glancing at Ace apprehensively.

The freckled man was confused at why he would stop talking, and why he had given him the strange look. Ace, for one, was curious about what other things the Straw Hat captain had done; if what their leader said was true, then he was a man to be reckoned with, having done so many of the unimaginable.

Their leader cleared his throat and proceeded once more. "Due to the huge danger involving the Straw Hats, I have devised a plan. First of all, I'll address the problem of if we start an all-out battle against them, it may cause a huge amount of casualties, which we want to avoid as much as possible. I have also stated before that the people of this island do not take the Marines kindly, so if we do fight, they will side with the Straw Hats."

"Um, captain Shigeru?" one of the newer marines raised his hand hesitantly, a look of uncertainty on his face.

"Yes?" The man flicked back a strand of hair as he answered.

"I don't think the civilians will be a problem," the rookie said in a small voice. "I mean, they don't know how to fight, right? Like, none of them have trained in Rokushiki or anything."

Shigeru grinned wryly and wagged a finger. "The sad thing is, my dear soldier, men of this island are rather powerful for commoners, because they live in the turbulent atmosphere of the New World, where anything could happen."

The young marine nodded and shrunk back into his seat.

"As I was saying," the commander continued, "this would take out the method of capturing them in the street. They are very capable of resisting and putting up a tough fight, so we have to isolate them to the north of this island where it's virtually uninhabited except for animals. From our research of people the pirates have encountered before, it has shown that they are righteous beings-" here he snorted, probably thinking righteous would be the last word he'd use to describe such scum, "so we will simply offer them a challenge for a fight in the north. Our research has also showed that the captain loves fighting challenges. We will not use any assassination tactics, as we Marines will not become so lowly to perform something so dirty, it is only something we expect pirates to do."

_Like hell we won't_, Ace interjected darkly in his mind. If what he did all the time wasn't low, then he didn't know what it meant to resort to foul tactics anymore. As far as he was concerned, the Marines were heavily corrupted and many of them were as far from "righteous" as possible. At least the pirates openly admitted they were "bad guys".

"Another important thing is that we must keep our identities a secret. If we openly engage the Straw Hats, our faces will be remembered, and that's the last thing I want to happen. We are expected to possibly return to this island, so we absolutely cannot take chances."

What was he insinuating…?

"I expect all of us to be disguised in some way, shape, or form. You are not allowed to perform any techniques that will distinguish yourself from the others, nor are you allowed to use Devil Fruits because the user could be automatically identified."

There were grumblings, but they were silenced quickly with a steely gaze.

"So the plan is fairly simple. I will send you all out to scout for the Straw Hats, deliver challenge letters, and await them. A quick battle, capture, send back, and our business here will be done, with hopefully some of us promoted to a higher rank. I would also like to add that it is _vital _that we don't screw this up. Fleet Admiral Sakazuki himself has ordered us that we must capture the Straw Hats at any length, as they are to be executed instead of brought to prison." He clearly added the last sentence to firmly drill in the soldiers' heads that they had to complete the mission no matter what, and do it well. This would be a good incentive for all of them. "Dismissed!"

Ace was out the door in a flash before anyone else responded, adjusting the cap he had worn since first arriving on this island. His free hand loosened the collar uncomfortably as his mind was jumbled, trying to understand why this entire thing was so important. There was just something about the Straw Hats that Sakazuki wanted to prevent badly, to the point where they were almost never mentioned. His knowledge of them was the bare minimum. Heck, he wasn't even sure of what they looked like! There were so many strange things that circled around this one pirate group that he didn't quite understand, but suddenly a chance was offered to him.

He grinned to himself morbidly. If it was up to Ace, he would rather seek the captain out, than capture and question.

To clear his mind and shove reality away, he ended up sitting on the beach again, cap angled so it casted a heavy shadow over his face. Bystanders wouldn't be able to see his features clearly, but again barely anyone would ever be in this area.

The breeze calmed him, and he took a deep breath of the refreshing scent of the ocean. His fingers dug into the loose sand, filtering it absentmindedly as he searched around for smooth pebbles. Burrowing his fingers deep in the sand, he pulled out a particularly large stone and hurtled it out into the sea, perhaps using a little more strength than he really needed. Far in the distance the rock flew until it smashed into the rough surface of the water, creating a large splash. The resulting ripples, however, were quickly broken up by the tide that was steadily becoming higher. The sun would set soon.

"It's a nice view, isn't it?" a rich, feminine voice said.

The sound startled him, and Ace jolted in surprise. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a tall woman with dark, long and wavy hair that cascaded down to her waist. Shades pushed her bangs out of her blue eyes as she watched the waves with a mysterious smile on her face.

"Yeah, I guess," he replied, digging around for another pebble to toss.

"It really calms one down, especially how the waves would rhythmically rock a ship like a gentle, swinging hammock." He heard a slight shuffling noise and knew that she had just sat down on the sand.

"You a writer or something?" He sent another stone flying, though the resulting splash was not as impressive as the previous.

From his peripheral vision he saw the corner of her mouth lift up even higher. "No," she responded softly, "simply a seafarer."

"Must be nice to be able to go about the ocean so freely," he said wistfully, his hands leaving the sand.

"Now why would you connect the ocean to freedom?" There was curiosity in her voice now.

He gestured to the waters. "Look at it. It's so vast and open, with few boundaries to trap you in. You could go freely, anywhere and everywhere, following the wind's current if you wanted with no restrictions whatsoever."

She chuckled lightly. "What an interesting way you put it. I wholeheartedly agree."

He imagined himself sailing Grand Line as a pirate, completely free and no longer under anyone's rule. He didn't even have to follow the law and could live freely, even form his own band of comrades that would follow him through thick and thin, maybe calling themselves the Spade Pirates. The name brought back a sense of nostalgia. So lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice when the woman had discreetly left him until the sun had fully set and night had fallen.

Ace's head snapped up when he remembered the words of the mysterious woman.

She had called herself a "seafarer".

She was one of the Straw Hat Pirates.

He cursed under his breath, wishing he had taken a closer look at her face. But by now it was too late, he had no idea where she would be, and he had to return to the inn now that it was getting late. But there was still tomorrow, which held the prospect of meeting the Straw Hats again.

Sighing, he brushed off grains of sand and headed back towards his temporary home.

* * *

**I zoned out an amazing amount of times while writing this chapter. Didn't like it very much, but it's important and necessary. So Ace has met Robin unknowingly~! You'll notice that the entire time his face was hidden, so Robin didn't get to see his face… or did she? Also, Ace would not recognize her as he never met her before (at least, from what we were able to see)! *laughs evilly* Don't you all worry though, Ace will meet Luffy soon enough, something like the next chapter~**

**I hope you guys liked this chapter! And please review! Or else I can't update this nearly as often, because I update according to how much popularity each story receives~ I can't leave one alone for too long, and I do have to write other things! Till next time! I'll try not taking so long since I totally forgot I didn't update this for quite a while.**

**~Shen**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

* * *

When Robin and her nakama first set foot on the island of Elysia, her senses told her they had to be cautious here, and there was something up. There was an almost unnatural feel around the citizens, even if they were all extraordinarily enthusiastic about the arrival of the Straw Hats. They had cheered wholeheartedly, congratulating them on surviving through the tough challenges of the first half of Grand Line, and passing Fishman Island into the New World. Yet she picked out a few individuals who seemed strangely awkward among the people, standing out clearly to her despite melding in so perfectly with the crowd. These people exuded hostility and a strong killing intent that unnerved her. Elysia was supposed to be a peaceful island fully supportive of pirates.

She arrived at the only plausible explanation; they were undercover from the government, perhaps not the CP9. They did not openly attack, as they would know it would cause casualties in such a fashion. And true to her suspicions, she tracked the people as the crowd slowly dispersed, and sure enough after several detours they convened in a single location. She had gained enough information and returned her focus back to her separating nakama.

The raven-haired woman decided to simply ignore them and observe for awhile before it became absolutely necessary to tell her captain; Luffy was not known for discretion. Until they truly proved themselves to be a real threat, she wouldn't take any action. She doubted they were really targeting the crew. They were probably simply a scouting group. Putting the thought deeper in her mind, she nodded and smiled as she listened to Nami rant. The younger was busy fuming over the antics of their captain again, as well as the swordsman's irresponsibility and Sanji's endless flirting attempts.

Whilst she accompanied the orange-haired girl on a shopping spree, she once again picked out the same people who had taken on a sense of urgency. There were small, nearly undetectable bulges in their pockets that she assumed as baby snail transponders as she could pick out movement of their lips, forming military phrases such as "Yes sir!". They must be planning something.

This unsettling thought didn't unnerve her though, as she continued to follow Nami like nothing had occurred. The younger hadn't picked up anything and chatted meaninglessly on, unaware to the plot that was forming under their noses.

As they were about to head back to where the rest of their crew would surely be waiting for them, she excused herself, claiming she wanted to take a longer look of the island tonight. The other noted a slight unnaturalness to her tone but didn't pry, knowing not to meddle with any of Robin's affairs. With a short nod, the navigator took off on her own towards the dock as Robin turned to another direction. She simply wanted to identify all of the undercover soldiers and nothing else, as their meeting would've long disbanded at this time. Just knowing who they were would be key to battles later on; at this point she firmly believed confrontation was inevitable.

Wandering around the island had led her to come to the conclusion that there were a grand total of fourteen soldiers including their commander, though it struck her odd as marines had a tendency to meticulously dispatch a nice, round number of fives and tens. Perhaps there was a fifteenth member she had carelessly left out, but the raven-haired woman had made sure there were fourteen and only fourteen.

She wound up at a small beach in a secluded section of the island, unoccupied by all but one. The man's posture was relaxed, a cap covering locks of black hair, and it shadowed his face from the low afternoon sun. He did not have seemed to realize her presence, mesmerized by the gentle lapping of ocean waves.

"It's a nice view, isn't it?" she had stated, intrigued by his fascination with the ocean, which she knew was not just because of the simplistic yet beautiful scenery.

She smiled slightly when he jolted in surprise but didn't turn back, gaze fixed on the waves. His fingers were deeply buried in the sand, searching. "Yeah, I guess." His reply was calm and composed when he answered.

Sitting down comfortably in the fine sand, she continued a bit of small talk. Her interest was further piqued when he had said, "Must be nice to be able to go about the ocean so freely," the words coated heavily with longing. It was strange for a normal civilian to connect the ocean with freedom. They had nothing to do with traveling, content with the lives they led in their home island. His response had reminded her oddly of her captain. Luffy once said something very similar. Now that she thought about it, this man did seem to share a few outlandish traits with her captain though one would not see the resemblance unless they knew Luffy very well, even further into his simple and childish nature.

She politely responded, "What an interesting way you put it. I wholeheartedly agree." And as the sun began to set, she quietly left the man who appeared to be lost in his thoughts, and returned to the Thousand Sunny, keeping the afternoon adventures to herself.

After dinner, however, she mulled over those words over again. The man was obviously not an inhabitant of Elysia, she could assume that much. But Elysia did not have an abundance of strangers either due to the aversion of pirates people generally held, which means…

Was he the fifteenth member she had left out?

"Robin-chwan~!" the flirtatious voice of Sanji distracted her as he did a twirl and glided over to her, carrying a slice of strawberry cheesecake with a dessert fork. "Here's your share that I made with all my heart! And you bastards, be glad I was kind enough to use the leftovers to make some for you, too!"

She graciously accepted the cake, still following her train of thought.

It was strange that none mentioned their fifteenth member in their conversations with each other, almost as if unwilling to do so. The soldiers had operated in pairs except this one. Maybe the man purposely ostracized himself from the others, and so in turn his co-workers refused to acknowledge him properly.

Speculation upon speculation.

Taking a delicate bite of the cheesecake, she called out a brief thanks to Sanji for once more outdoing himself in baking the desert.

There was definitely something stirring within the marines, she knew from the strange lack of activity. Being in the Revolutionary Army had given her even more knowledge of the government than from before, and it was shown that during these past two years the marines' activity had lessened, only by a barely noticeable amount. Mysterious but well covered-up assassinations and dirty work was ten times more frequent than two years ago, coinciding with the day Sakazuki became Fleet Admiral. The marines were definitely working on something behind the scenes that few knew of, and she couldn't help but feel as if this secret operation was related to the man at the beach. Her gut feeling had never failed her all the years she spent on the run and Robin profoundly doubted it would now.

The Straw Hats were in for more than what she originally thought, then. Swallowing the last bit of cake, she said, "Captain, I believe I have something of great importance to tell you."

* * *

The sound of retching filled Ace's room as he emptied his already vacant stomach, leaving a bitter taste at the back of his mouth and an awful burn in his throat. He groaned tiredly, leaning against the wall as he fought down another wave of nausea. He woke up some hours ago after midnight and the puking episode had begun, leaving him with no choice but to stay by the toilet as his stomach refused to stop churning. The freckled man was pretty damn sure he didn't eat anything suspicious at night, so it couldn't be food poisoning.

With a sinking feeling he realized if this problem persisted in the morning, he would be unable to carry out the mission properly. Stomach bugs weren't known for going away within a few hours either. Then he bent over again and clamped a hand against his mouth, fighting to keep the acid in his body. _Take deep breaths,_ he told himself. _Deep breaths. _

He floated in and out of consciousness all the way until morning, occasionally puking more substance out. It was only when bright sunlight had streamed in the dank room when he finally hauled himself out and collapsed onto the bed, feeling that the worst was gone – at least he hoped so. He lied on the bed, trying to just get one hour of sleep before he had to leave again…

_Darkness. Musty, dank air. The rustling and clinking of chain links. He could smell the sharp tang of his own blood so strongly here in a room he was all too familiar with, hear his labored breath clearly in his ears, amplified in the chamber lit only by scarce lamps. But he would rather not see how much of his blood was spilled, or what had awaited him. The pain in his back had dulled, but it was only a matter of time before it was restored. _

_He twisted, attempting to get into a position that would temporarily relive the pain in his wrists but to no avail. An ankle was broken, and all he could do was to put all the weight on the other bruised foot. His fingers were numb from the long time they were cut off circulation, and he moved them, hoping to get a little bit feeling. Nothing happened._

_Blinking, he made out the shadowy form of a leather whip curled neatly together, stains covering the material. "So that's what it was, huh?" he muttered through a coarse throat. _

"_Would you like more?" An amused voice cut through the silence. _

_Ace froze, fists clenching together. If there was one man he feared more than Akainu, it would be him. His name was never mentioned, but Ace had subconsciously named him as the "Tormentor", as he knew every trick in the book to make a person sing like a bird._

_His footsteps echoed loudly on the dirty cement floor as he walked over with a sardonic smirk, clean-shaven as usual. His bright green eyes almost glowed in the darkness as they bore into Ace's soul, eerily like a cat. However, Ace's gaze was focused nervously on the small syringe he brandished in his gloved hands, a finger stroking the needle lovingly. "You should look at yourself," he said, cruel delight bleeding through the simple words. "You seem _scared _of it."_

_It was true. Ace didn't want to know what was in there. It could be anything, and he had being subjected to all kinds of strange injections already to know that the experience was not going to be pleasant. Before he had a chance to open his mouth, the man stabbed into his arm. Ace nearly cried out as the thick needle ripped through his tense muscle, sending shockwaves of pain to his nerves. He gritted his teeth before a sound was uttered, not wanting to give the other satisfaction as the ice-cold liquid was injected into his vein. It was all over within seconds, but this time he was not met with the usual dizzying feeling all the serums caused._

_In fact, he felt nothing at all._

_As if the man read his mind, he smirked impossibly wider. "Think of it as a parting gift from me before you leave for Paradise. You're overdue anyways, and the effect doesn't kick in immediately." _

He woke fully this time, though not well rested as the memory disturbed him. Ace hoped to whatever deities existed in this world that this sickness wasn't the aftereffect of the liquid, since absolutely nothing had happened before. Ace wished he hadn't remembered this particular bit; it now disturbed him to no ends of what he'd have to go through because of it and from previous experiences they were never good. Once it had enhanced his fighting ability by tenfold but at the cost of his humane mind, reducing him to a mindless and primitive animal with a strong blood thirst.

Redirecting mentally to another topic before he freaked himself out too much, he decided to contemplate over something that was bothering him yesterday.

… And for the life of him he couldn't remember what it was about. He dismissed it as nothing important and instead focused on battle techniques in capturing the Straw Hats. They weren't looking for kills, simply incapacitate them and take them back. They would be brought to Impel Down, apparently to be scheduled for execution soon after by the orders of the fleet admiral. Pirates usually didn't receive the death sentence except rare cases, one of Roger and the other that took place two years ago, during the Marineford War and the death of Whitebeard that all avoided talking about. It was just another one of the topics that he heard often in whispers but never anything specific, as if he wasn't allowed to hear it.

But none of that mattered to him as he headed out the door, his cap once again tilted so it hid his face. All that was important now was not messing anything up.

Little did he know that as he left the inn, someone gasped out in shock several buildings away, horrified by the glimpse she caught of his face. A tiny blue eye protruding from the wall burst into sakura petals and dissipated from sight. "How should I tell this to Captain?"

Within moments Ace had arrived back in the commander's room, ignoring the raised eyebrow the innkeeper gave him as he headed towards that direction, no doubt wondering why so many people were gathering at one place repeatedly. The moment he stepped in, Shigeru had an appalled look on his face. "A measly cap is not enough!" he said dramatically, pointing a finger to said hat.

Ace fought the urge to roll his eyes as he swept his gaze around the room, finding all of his teammates cleverly disguised in different outfits and wigs, along with color contacts and light makeup.

"Did you encounter any Straw Hats on your way?" he pressed on with a strange urgency.

He nearly said yes, a reflexive response to always say the truth when he realized that apparently, it was taboo to meet any of them yet. "No," he said curtly.

The room's occupants let out a collective sigh of relief, making the situation fishier. He didn't think they were worried about him being recognized, considering the fact that they didn't know him in the first place or at least he thought.

After an awkward pause of silence, Shigeru cleared his throat authoritatively and rapped the wooden walls sharply to get their attention. "As discussed," he said, now more serious than before, "we are to issue a challenge to the Straw Hat Pirates today, and if all goes well the battle will take place three hours after in the forest clearing north of the island. I would like to stress the importance of keeping your identities covered. Most of you showed up properly disguised, and hopefully it will hold during the battle."

A tentative hand was raised. "What if it doesn't? The Straw Hats are strong."

Shigeru snorted derisively. "Our abilities far outstrip that of the pirate scum. We will easily defeat them without a problem, I am sure of that."

_You can't know that_, Ace contradicted silently in his head. _If they're strong enough to arrive at the New World, then they've got to be powerful._

The commander drew out several different notes, meticulously folded into small squares and attached to a small, sharp dart. "Send these out. You're all paired up, except you three will go together." He pointed to the occupants, using hand gestures to make his point. "But you." A finger was pointed to Ace. "I trust you to go off on your own. You're after Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, the swordsman of the group." He tossed a rolled-up wanted poster and the dart to Ace. "Everyone got that? Now off you go!"

With the hurried dismissal, Ace was once again the first out the door as others clamored around their leader to retrieve their respective papers, striding down the hall and out the inn. Pocketing the challenge note, he unfurled the wanted poster. "Hmmm…"

* * *

**This chapter felt so suckish… must be because it's chapter four. e_e I am seriously believing the Chinese superstitions right now… Anyhow! Have you picked up all the little bits and pieces left in this chapter? The first part was in Robin's POV to show that the Straw Hats have more knowledge than the Marines think they do, which plays to their advantage. However, what they don't know is that one of the Marines is Ace, but that fact will be changed soon. **

**Leave a review, please! Put any questions in there and I'll do my best to answer them. Also, in the very first chapter I mentioned that this was going to be yaoi, but to be honest I'm currently at loss of what couple I should go with because I support quite a lot. I don't mind incorporating several either, so leave any suggestions in the review as well! And I'm out now, I should go to sleep.**

**~Shen**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I no own One Piece. Bah.**

* * *

As usual, Zoro couldn't find his intended destination even following a map that Nami had specifically drawn for him. He was sure this path would lead him to the swords shop, yet somehow he wounded on the beach at the east, which was the opposite direction of where he should be. "The witch must've drawn it incorrectly to mock me," he grumbled sullenly under his breath as he somehow found himself staring out the same ocean for the umpteenth time, even though he clearly followed the instructions of the neat map. Shaking it in frustration, he turned back to his starting point. Never did it occur to him that perhaps it was his own lack of direction that led him to be lost.

The swordsman passed a vaguely familiar bakery, a hand running through his tousled green hair as he groaned in irritation, wondering how long it was going to take him to find the damn shop. In his head, he could almost hear the shitty cook mocking him gleefully. Huffing, he began to jog, hoping that would quicken the process.

"Hey!"

Zoro spun around towards the sudden voice to find himself face to face with a young man. "This is the fifth time I saw you walking down this street. Are you lost? I could help," he offered amiably with a smile.

He raised an eyebrow; he didn't remember this street at all, and the buildings were all familiar in the way that he could tell he was in a town, but that was the extent. "Sure," he replied warily. "I'm looking for the swords shop, do you know where it is?"

The man suddenly took on an expression like he was trying hard to not laugh as he pointed a shaking hand to the street adjacent to them. "It's right there," he said, struggling to keep a grin off his face.

Zoro felt warmth creeping up his cheeks, a telltale sign that he was blushing. "Oh… right… thanks," he muttered, turning around sharply to the store, ignoring the small chuckles that slipped through the man's lips. Abashment was quickly replaced by curiosity as his eyes scanned the contents the store offered, contemplating whether to buy a new sword or not. The embarrassment was soon forgotten as he immersed himself in his specialty, finally settling for a kit to keep his swords in top condition which he was beginning to run low on.

Humming quietly to himself, he left with his face buried in Nami's map and supplies shoved in a leather sack. His eyebrows drew together as he examined a particularly odd part. The swordsman was almost a hundred percent sure that the salon was adjacent to a tiny stationary store, yet here it clearly indicated that they were on opposite sides of the island. So for the second time of the day, he took up wandering around, hoping his extreme luck would land him fairly quickly back at where Sunny was docked.

Presently he reached the back alleys, where the more unpleasant people of Elysia resided in. He had already passed the area an innumerable amount and was certain he'd reach the dock soon.

He reckoned he would have been able to see the dock from his point when an explosion rocked the earth right in front of his face, shooting up plumes of smoke up into the clear blue skies. Out of reflex he jumped back and dodged lethal shards of solid that came flying is way, then drew out a sword in anticipation. His eyes scanned his empty surroundings and zeroed upon a figure perched elegantly on the ledge of the bare building tops. He winced, squinting through as the sun was shone too brightly in his eye, casting a direct shadow over the mysterious figure so he couldn't see his face except a wicked grin.

He tightened his grip on the hilt, glaring at the man. Was he one of the marines that Robin warned them about? The raven-haired woman had told them last night of her findings about fifteen soldiers that were stationed undercover on this island, but he hadn't expected them to outright attack them. "Are you one of the marines?" he asked bluntly.

The Cheshire grin didn't fade. "Oh? You seem to be informed of us already." He held up a hand, and Zoro made out a dart clasped between two fingers. With a swift flick of his wrist, the projectile weapon came flying towards Zoro's face with uncanny accuracy, who snatched it out of the air before he was hit.

He tore off the small square sheet of paper attached and unfolded it.

_To the Straw Hat Pirates,_

_I, Captain Shigeru of the Marines on my honor challenge you to a battle due northeast of the island in the clearing at 1900 today. _

"The hell is this?" he said out loud incredulously, shaking the paper. "A challenge letter? Seriously?" Robin did give them a warning, but this was just…

He heard a derisive snort from the man, as if he agreed with Zoro. "You don't say. Crazy-ass leader," he muttered under his breath, just loud enough for the pirate to make out his words.

Zoro's eyes widened at the outright insulting by this Captain Shigeru's subordinate, and the man seemed utterly unfazed by the fact that Zoro had overheard. "So am I supposed to accept this shit or something?" He gave another vigorous shake.

"If you would be so kind to," the man replied, the grin seeming to stretch impossibly, reminiscent of his idiotic and hyper captain.

"Was this sent out to the rest of my crew?"

"Yep."

It was surprising how the man answered all their questions so easily without any qualms about revealing inside information. It was the first time Zoro had ever met an enemy like that who wasn't so uptight and anal that it honestly scared him.

"Well then, my business here is done," the man continued, straightening up and raising two fingers in a mock salute. In that brief moment, the sun shone past all the shadows cast by his cap and revealed the mysterious man's face. Within the split second, he turned and darted away, leaping out of sight, but that simple instant was enough to have the image deeply ingrained in the pirate's mind.

Wasn't that-? He took an involuntary step backwards, rubbing his eyes and blinking.

That voice. That face.

A shaking hand reached into his pocket and drew out a baby snail transponder, oozing happily on his palm. "Oi, shitty cook," he said as he breathed in deeply to calm his frayed nerves.

There was visible disappointment in Sanji's tone when he replied. "Why does it have to be you, marimo? And not one of my lovely ladies?"

"Deal with it," Zoro snapped back irritably, not in the mood for the blonde's openly flirty behavior.

"So what the hell do you want?" Sanji took a deep drag of his cigarette and breathed out. "Don't tell me it's about the Marines is it?"

"That's exactly what I was going to ask. You got one, too?" Zoro stared contemplatively at the crumpled paper.

"Yeah, by two retards who looked like they were going to shit themselves, but not before saying I really did have a curly eyebrow." The blonde chef grumbled into the den den mushi. "Guess they sent one to everyone or something. Is that all you have to say now? I still have to get back to my shopping and talk to some pretty ladies."

"No, that's not it. It's…" he hesitated.

Sanji noticed the strange lapse in his speech with interest. "It's not like you to be so indecisive. Spit it out, will you?"

"I think… I saw … the guy that went after me was Ace."

Silence.

"You what?!"

Zoro winced, pulling the snail briefly away in case there were any more explosive responses; he didn't think his eardrums could handle to abuse.

"O-oi, what the hell?! Have you honestly lost it, shitty marimo?!"

"No I haven't! I saw what I saw, and this is what I'm telling you," Zoro yelled back, ignoring frightened onlookers as they scurried away from him, unwilling to face the green-haired man's wrath in case he directed his fearsome anger to them. He scowled darkly at the snail.

"… Are you sure? He's supposed to be dead during Marineford since he got punched through the chest…" Sanji trailed off uncertainly.

Zoro understood perfectly what the other pirate was insinuating, as it was next to impossible to survive from such a fatal injury. From the bits they had gathered through the public media and the captain himself, they managed to cobble together what happened. Apparently, Ace had died in Luffy's arms after sacrificing himself for his brother. They could only guess how traumatic it would be despite going through similar situations of their own, but none as mentally wearying or dramatic as their captain's. The crew also unfortunately found out that mentioning the word Ace was borderline taboo, as the rubber teen would cook up an angry storm. They had seen with their own eyes how much more dementedly serious and cold Luffy would become over the topic. "I don't know either," Zoro replied honestly. "Don't ask me these questions, but I swear it's him."

Sanji took another calming drag of his cancer stick. "I assume you haven't told Luffy yet."

The swordsman scoffed. "I'm not as dumb as you look."

"You're not- wait, what the hell?!"

Zoro smirked in satisfaction. "Don't drift off topic, ero-cook."

A string of unintelligible mutterings and curses passed through. "Damn you," Sanji said at last, this time loud enough for his baby den den mushi to pick up. "So what do you propose we do? Sit on the information? This is big, but we can't tell Luffy like this."

"We should-" he broke off as a strange object protruding out of the earth caught his eye.

The odd article was, in fact, a strikingly familiar sea blue eye that intently stared directly into his own as if peering into his very soul. The gaze could only belong to one person, and his suspicious were confirmed when the eye burst into a multitude of flower petals. "Robin," he said.

Sanji broke out of his angry ranting. "What about her?" he questioned curiously.

"I'm right here." From the shadows, Robin stepped out and regarded Zoro with a piercing gaze not unlike the previous eye, her expression unreadable and lacking the usual cryptic and serene smile.

"Robin-chwan!" If Zoro could see the cook through the snail transponder, he would've seen Sanji transforming into a wriggling wet noodle on the floor again, fawning over the extraordinary beauty of Robin and other lewd thoughts.

The raven-haired woman paid no heed to Sanji. "If you may, Zoro, please tell Sanji to meet us here. There is something I need to talk about, about Ace."

"What about Lu-" the swordsman began.

Robin silenced him with a simple look. "It will not be a wise decision to tell Captain yet."

"Then the challenge?"

"We will still go."

* * *

Ace somehow miraculously survived the first half of the day without puking his guts out all over himself through sheer willpower. Maybe he should consider dropping out of the mission, but no doubt the commander would chew his head off. It was almost time for the soldiers to regroup once more in Shigeru's cramped room, and one of the crew had given him a full makeover because the leader deemed his simple cap unfit.

The freckled man was tempted to throw a childish fit, but reluctantly obliged anyhow. Within the span of a short hour he became almost unrecognizable with pale unblemished skin and startling emerald green eyes, hair temporarily dyed a chestnut brown and pulled into a small pony tail. His cap, sadly, was tossed to aside as the younger soldier rebuked him for carrying around an identifying article. The other Marine packed his makeup kit away and left, wishing him good luck.

They were all going to need it.

In some ways as the hour drew near, the atmosphere around his co-workers reminded him of how one would act before a great war. It was as if they believed they were going to die, though from what Ace gathered the Straw Hats weren't known to kill. Perhaps they were just terrified.

His digital watch beeped obnoxiously; the timer was set off. "I know, I know," Ace grumbled to no one, dragging himself out of his warm and comfortable bed. The unwanted nausea seemed to grow as he walked out of his room, or maybe it was his own nerves. He brushed back strands of hair from his eyes, focusing on the task at hand.

The rest all passed as one big blur of memories, time accelerating to several times the supposed speed. He dozed through all of Shigeru's annoying pep talk, filled with the usual "we will defeat the pirate scum!" phrases and meanings that got the rest roaring with energy and anticipation until the intimidating innkeeper knocked impatiently on the door and very kindly reminded them that there were other people who needed rest.

They piped down, but only by a bit.

Finally, the soldiers eventually filed out to with excited smiles and began the weary road towards the forest. Shigeru suggested them all sing a war song.

_How about let us all march while someone waved a flag and another beat drums? _Ace thought sarcastically, the only proper notion he could come up with amidst his worn-out mind. He wished they could speed up all the damn process and finish the job, so he could sleep off the sickness that proved much harder to shake off than he was originally led to believe. Grinding his teeth in frustration as they began the second chorus, he began to walk at a slower pace, dropping slowly yet steadily behind the soldiers.

He slid down beneath a tree to catch his breath, sweat pouring profusely out his forehead. His heart was fluttering at ridiculous rates as it usually would be if he overexerted himself, but it wasn't the case. It was just a slow trek to the forest clearing and nothing else. "My god," he grumbled wearily. "Now my fucking heart wants to give out on me."

The strange serum was making him more petulant than he usually would be.

Ace wiped away the sweat irritably, trying to think something else. Just nothing but what _that _man had done to his body.

His eyesight was blurring now, and he yawned, casting a look at the direction the rest had gone off to. Just how long had he left them?

Ace didn't have long to ponder over the thought before he slid off into a fitful sleep, unaware of the inner turmoil his mind and body was undergoing.

In his dreams, he saw himself launching a fiery fist towards multiple enemy boats, breaking the sturdy masts and sinking them as soldiers jumped overboard and onto rafts in hopes of escaping his power. With a large grin plastered on his face, he pushed up his hat. Then it flash-forwarded as he returned onto a ship, greeting several different people and introducing himself.

Several of the faces he recognized subconsciously, though in the dream he knew them well. One had hair a curious shade of moss green with three golden earrings dangling from one ear, and his captain was a young teen with a cheerful attitude and was constantly hyper.

This boy he knew well, as his subconscious mind registered that he was well acquainted with him prior to this meeting, and they were as close as family.

Straw Hat.

However, the images began to slip away from his fingers, forming into one large puddle of gray and melted completely, leaving behind no trace. He cried out in alarm and desperately searched for the scattered memories, but the harder he tried, the more painful it became on his mind as if the two were somehow correlated.

A scream ripped through the woods, jolting Ace awake from his disturbed dream. He discerned the voice as one of the soldiers and leaped to his feet, realizing that he had managed to fall asleep and abandoned the rest of the Marines to fight the Straw Hats. "Shit!" he cursed, sprinting past the trees towards the clearing.

The last threads of the odd dream that clung to his mind vanished, and the matter was completely forgotten as he centered his attention on the duty to save the soldiers, however unwilling he was to do so. Frankly, he'd rather let Shigeru be sorely defeated by "pirate scum" so his annoyingly arrogant attitude could be wiped away once and for all.

Presently, he broke out of the last line of trees into a destroyed field. Most of the soldiers were littered around the ground in unnatural positions but not dead; he could tell that through haki. But the rest were barely holding up either, all sporting some sort of hindering wound.

Ace's gaze settled upon nine figures in the center.

So that was the enemy.

* * *

**This should've been finished a couple of hours ago… but I got distracted by shimejis. *laughs nervously* But they're really cute! Chibi figures that crawl around your computer desktop and do random things, and you can even drag them up and swing them around, then drop them anywhere. I've already downloaded Ace and Luffy, and goodness are they addicting! It's so cute watching them crawl around, hehe! **

**Hopefully I can try updating faster next week with the four day weekend I will be getting, but like usual no promises.**

**Once again, please review and leave your thoughts there! It will be greatly appreciated and motivate me to write faster. Thanks! :)**

**~Shen**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: If I owned One Piece, I would not be crying pathetically over today. **

* * *

_"All we can do is keep quiet and stop the captain from doing reckless things."_

* * *

"How long will the effects last?"

"I don't know, I'd say around two cycles." An offhanded wave.

Anger. "This is dangerous. You should've asked me before administering it."

"My my my, Fleet Admiral, it isn't like you to worry over our subject like this." A lazy smirk.

The other scowled. "I am not worried, I am simply concerned about possible side-effects that may interfere with the mission."

"Ah, it's nothing big. It'll act almost like a very bad flu for a few days, and on the first the block will kick in, this time twice as long and a little stronger. Besides, he's overdue anyways."

"That's not the point!"

"Tch, Sakazuki, don't fret like this. There is no lasting damage other than the effect we wish to achieve."

"Do further research on this. Cancel out the side-effects, we can't have him half dead like this."

Mockingly, he saluted. "Yessir!"

* * *

Almost immediately after Ace arrived at the scene, he began to analyze every single detail of the impromptu battle field. The clearing was severely damaged with scorch marks and upturned dirt and rubble, signs of some kind of fire or gun that had created them. Judging from cleanly-sliced off trees and other unnaturally lines, there was also a sword fight. But pushing these ordinary battle marks aside, he found the ground strangely wet, charred grass glistening with droplets and dirt turning into a more liquid form. He was sure there weren't supposed to be rain today, and sure enough as he casted a brief glance above head there was no trace of any storm clouds as far as he could see, only the darkening sky of dusk.

His crew mates were nearly all scattered on the ground, three of them who were snoring peacefully away despite the awkward positions they slept in, knocked out by a particularly strong burst of haki. Others sported an assortment of injuries, some looking as if a bomb dropped by them and or as if they were fried by electricity with the singed hair and clothing. Shigeru and another were panting heavily, covered from head to toe in bruises and various cuts, bleeding sluggishly.

It was overall a very bleak sight for Ace to see, as he knew many of the Marine soldiers were quite well versed in their respective battle skills, yet they looked as if they were dispatched with little to no effort. Even their commander was barely standing and conscious, but it was obvious he wasn't going to last very long.

The enemy consisted of some very odd nine people, exactly as reports had described. The leader, Straw Hat, had a relaxed stance, a straw hat shadowing his face. The same calm was also evident in the other members save one with a long nose. Several had odd weapons, and one was a large cyborg. He decided not to linger on the strange moving skeleton and a raccoon-like humanoid figure, assuming that they'd act like normal human beings. The Straw Hats were a large and formidable group, thus taking out most options he'd use to fight. His only option was to attack them all at once and keep moving while hoping he'd be fast enough to dodge the attacks.

All of this was evaluated within the span of seconds, and he slid into an offensive stance in preparation for the suicidal battle.

Then-

"… Ace?"

Ace faltered in his movements and stared at Straw Hat in shock. One of the most important rules: do not give your name to others. And somehow, this pirate miraculously knew his name when Ace could've sworn he had never met him or any of his crew in all of his life. Or at least, the two years he remembered, and the past that Akainu had told him of. He thought he heard Shigeru curse in his peripheral vision. Yet he pushed all the distracting thoughts to his mind; all he had to do would be to terminate the Straw Hats and the secret would be safe. That is, if he managed at all.

Ignoring one of his current superior's commands, he burst into flames and punched the ground, sending debris flying in the air, using the dust and smoke to create a nice cover. The explosion would hopefully act as a brief distraction, and sure enough the pirates' views were focused on the spot he was previously at, eyes streaming and coughing.

But all of the effort was in vain when he tripped over apparent nothing and fell forwards, converting the momentum into a frontal flip just in time. His eyes narrowed when he saw remnants of sakura petals. There weren't any cherry blossoms in the island of Elysia at all, so the only logical conclusion would be a devil fruit power. The suspicions were confirmed when he saw a vaguely familiar woman with her arms crossed, a look of absolute concentration on her face. Wasn't she the…? He searched his brain and found only a hazy impression of the beach and a short conversation.

And in his musing he hadn't realized the smokescreen he created had become less opaque. But before he was hit by any attack, Straw Hat stopped his crew. "Ace, is that you?"

The hopeful face and voice was strangely reminiscent of the little boy he failed to save several weeks before, and it tugged painfully at his heart in memory of him. There were the same wide eyes and tousled black bangs the other boy had. "Who are you?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he winced internally.

Straw Hat's face fell so dramatically. "What do you mean?" he half screamed, horrified. "You forgot me? Ace?" Somehow, the way he said it made Ace want to fervently apologize and comfort the pirate.

To say Ace was confused would be an understatement as he tried to make sense of all of this. From the younger's words it was clear Straw Hat believed he knew Ace, and that fact was hard to refute in the freckled man's mind and made perfect sense; otherwise, how would Straw Hat had known his name? But he honestly didn't remember this pirate, nor did he associate with any known pirates that he could remember in the short two years. The more he thought over, the stronger a physical headache pounded in his head, and he rubbed the temples in an effort to ease the soreness. "I don't know who you are," he said stubbornly.

"You… really forgot me?" Straw Hat said. "I'm your brother!"

Brother?

"Why are you wearing a Marine uniform? What are you doing, Ace?!"

He was a secret weapon of the World Government, that was why. He was their best assassin. Yet obviously none of these were appropriate answers.

"He was brainwashed," the green swordsman growled in response, not bothering to take his eyes off of Ace. "The goddamn corrupted government took him and brainwashed him to become their slave."

What?

In an instant, Straw Hat had flipped from being hopelessly lost to emanating cold fury. "What did you say, Zoro?" he said quietly.

"That's what happened, Captain," Zoro responded calmly, unfazed by his captain's attitude.

He was… brainwashed? Was this some kind of ploy cleverly constructed by the enemy, or was this the truth? Ace couldn't tell.

"Lies!" bellowed a deep voice from the side. Shigeru, with renewed vigor, took a new battle stance as he glared daggers at the pirates. "Don't talk bullshit here! That's not true! Don't you dare spread such dirty lies about the World Government, you scum!"

Ace didn't know who to believe anymore.

Straw Hat turned to his commander with a deep scowl. "Were you one of the bastards involved with it? Huh?" His fists were tightly clenched as he glowered fiercely at the man.

Shigeru did not respond and only returned the gaze, unwilling to back down.

In a flash, Straw Hat became a blur of movement as he disappeared and reappeared in front of Shigeru, launching his fist at the older man's face. The power of the punch sent Shigeru hurtling through the air and crashing into the rocky hill on the other side, deeply imbedded in the rock. With a battle cry, he prepared another attack, but dozens of pale arms sprouted out of the ground and on his back, clutching tightly onto him and holding him in a strong lock.

"Captain, you must stop," was the stern voice of the black-haired woman.

A small part of his head clicked, knowing now that it must've been one of the conjured limbs that tripped him over.

Straw Hat struggled vainly against the bonds. "What are you doing, Robin?" he screeched.

"Killing him will do no good, Luffy," she replied in the same firm tone, tightening her phantom hold.

The burning rage in his eyes clearly indicated that he could care less about everything, the same kind of rage that was present when he attacked Enies Lobby and declared war on the entire government. It would be hard to stop him, and although Robin deeply appreciated that quality, it also put lives in jeopardy and could very well force situations to become messier than they already were.

The more Ace heard, the stronger the headache had grown until it was no longer confined in his head, and began to wrack his body. With a gasp, he fell onto his knees on the gritty rubble, clutching tightly at his head. There was something repressed in his mind that fought to be released, but another force held it back vigorously, causing the two to battle mentally. And the name Luffy had triggered an even more violent response as the pain came in a fresh wave, overwhelming his senses. With a strangled yell, he collapsed and gave in to darkness.

"_Hey! I'm Luffy!"_

* * *

Ace groggily awoke on a familiarly soft bed, rubbing his eyes wearily as the ship's gentle rocking beckoned him to go back to sleep. It was such a tempting idea, as the sky was completely dark and he wanted to get back to that dream he had. The details were already foggy and had all but slipped away, yet it left behind a warm glow in his chest he did not experience often. A small part of him realized with irritation that it was the third time he had fallen asleep in the day, and it wouldn't be appropriate if he spent all day sleeping-

Wait. Why the hell was he back on the ship? How had he fallen asleep?

More importantly, what happened?

He bolted upright at the revelation, and suddenly the memories began to flow back to him of a few hours prior.

The battle with the Straw Hats! And the talk of brainwashing, which seemed to be more real by the second the more he pondered over the fact. He didn't fall asleep either, he had passed out from pain. Oh god. But even as he thought back to the name Luffy, it no longer evoked anything in him; it had become just a name and nothing more.

Just what was happening to him?

"You're awake, I see." His commander, heavily bandaged in various places leaned against his door. Strangely, he looked worn and exhausted, the wrinkles in his face more pronounced, and to Ace he seemed to have aged a decade. Shigeru was simply completely defeated, and the emotion was conveyed through his speech. "You alright?"

For a moment Ace sat there wordless, unable to comprehend the sudden change that took place. Here was the officer, standing on the flipside of the man he was supposed to be, showcasing a more down-to-earth side that few ever saw. "Err, yeah," he mumbled. His frustration about his situation and the anger towards the older man had slipped away, replaced by pity of how simply dead Shigeru was to his eyes.

"Don't expect to hear this from me ever again," Shigeru warned, "but I will apologize for keeping secrets that are not mine to say. You've gone through so much more shit than I have now even though I'm twice your age." He sighed wearily. "Not my place to say what the government does. None of that is important though. I would say you have noticed we're back on our ship, have you?"

"What happened?" Ace braced himself for the worst. They probably were forced to surrender to the Straw Hats and left the island in shame. But he did not expect the next words.

"The Straw Hats surrendered."

… What? "Captain, did you-?"

Eyes unreadable, Shigeru nodded curtly. "They have surrendered and agreed to be taken back to the Marine Headquarters without any resistance at all, despite the fact that they could crush us like little bugs under their feet. And they're all cooperating very well."

"What are they doing?"

Shigeru shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. We are monitoring them for any surprise movements but that is it. Anyways, rest well. We're heading to the headquarters as soon as we can, probably reaching there within a few days." He left without another word before Ace had the chance to ask any further questions, leaving him in deeper confusion than before.

He didn't understand the man's cryptic words about secrets, but it was clear that Akainu must've done something to his memories by force, smeared away his life like it was nothing and replaced it with living hell. And somehow it was all related to the Straw Hat boy, who for the life of him he couldn't drudge up a single thing in his mind. There was no corresponding emotions, no small shard that gave away the pirate's identity to him. Nothing.

Or maybe, Straw Hat was only lying about being his brother. Pirates were liars, thieves, and criminals of the worst kind, after all, so perhaps it was just a clever trap devised to trick them all by using the information they managed to gather beforehand.

That excuse even sounded pathetic in his head, and he knew the chances of it being a farce was slim to nothing.

There was only one way to find out, wasn't there? There were direct first hand witnesses on this ship he could question, the closest reliable sources he could find about his lost past. It was a perfect chance to delve into the very information he was forbidden to access.

Did he want to know though? What if it was better if he hadn't known? A terrible event that traumatized him.

But this had being his goal for all of the two years. And now a golden opportunity shoved itself in front of his face and simply begged to be taken, yet he was hesitant and unwilling to simply reach out and give in to the temptation. How ironic.

He stood up abruptly from his bunk angrily and kicked the sheets away. "Goddamn it, just go!" he said loudly to himself, and he took a step towards the door and stopped there.

God, why was this so hard? There was no guarantee the Straw Hat captain was awake either, as it was the middle of the night. Any normal person would be sleeping away at this hour without a worry. But maybe because he was in the enemy ship, he wouldn't sleep because he was too cautious and wary of the soldiers.

Banking on this simple hope, Ace darted down to the stairs, where the shadows would hide briefly from any hall patrollers that chanced upon his corridor. Taking a deep breath, he observed his surroundings and was pleased to see no one, or any suspicious sounds other than loud snoring from a few rooms down. He stepped cautiously down the carpeted staircase, hands gripped tightly on the railings so if he was caught by surprise he wouldn't slip. Quietly he stole down two flights of stairs directly into the deepest level where the cells were.

Almost immediately, unease spread inside him as he felt the unsettling pressure of the sea, barely blocked by the ship's layers, and the overwhelming amount of seastone used to construct the cells. He swept the area quickly to confirm that there weren't any guards he could see in sight, as he had already passed the previous whom overlooked the doorway down by distracting him with a beam of light.

His heart beat annoyingly loud as he walked past numerous bars, noting with mild astonishment that the pirates slept contently on the bare straw mats without a single fear that a soldier would attempt to harm or kill them in anyway. It was amazing how much trust they had to their captain, despite his own apparent inability to protect them.

Finally, he reached the end where he knew Straw Hat must be held. Disappointment weighed heavily in him as he saw the curiously slender body of Luffy lying on his side with his back facing the bars, seemingly asleep from the slow, regular breathing and the completely relaxed position. As he was about to turn away, he heard the sound of stirring and shifting.

No, Straw Hat was very much awake. He had flipped on the other side in one fluid movement and scrutinized the older with a sharp gaze.

"Ace…"

* * *

**Today was the day Ace "died". Chapter 574 came out exactly three years ago on February 15 of 2010. Even after such a long time, I'm still not over his death (far from it, in fact. I'm such a hopeless person. ;_;) Well then, I will make a random small note to commemorate this day in which the genius troll Oda killed off a very in depth character and celebrated by reading a ton of theories which he didn't die. I'll say that the Chinese forums seem to be making quite a lot of sense that got me thinking. Still in denial~ **

**Also I was actually not aware of this fact last night and stayed up writing an AU one-shot where it was Luffy who died instead of Ace. I published it and it can be found here if you're interested: www . fanfiction s / 9012582/1/On-the-Other-Side . It is a bit creepy how that worked out… **

**Lastly, I want to thank all of you so much for the reception I had received last chapter, it was simply overwhelming! Thank you so much for your lovely responses and support for the story I thought would get nowhere. Please do continue your support, if you are so kind! Leave a review maybe? :D Because I actually do update faster the more reviews I get. **

**~Shen **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I can't believe I'm still putting this. I will never make as great of a masterpiece like Odacchi has done.**

* * *

"_A madman hath no lucidity."_

…

"You summoned me?" With the usual eerie smile on his face, Shichibukai Trafalgar Law strolled into the Fleet Admiral's room without knocking, disregarding all the rules of etiquette as he leaned against the doorway, arms crossed indifferently. There was a suspicious stain on his black coat that resembled much like dried blood, though it went unnoticed by most.

Akainu let the show of disrespect slide as he weighed the more important issues at hand, shuffling a heavy stack of paper work and pushing it neatly to the right of his desk. Folding his hands together, he surveyed the young pirate with distaste in his eyes. It was common knowledge that the Fleet Admiral did not approve of Law because of his cunning and cryptic nature, and his affiliation with Straw Hat. But rules were rules. "PX666," he stated, tugging out a sheet from the stack. "A newly constructed concoction you were under orders to create for the World Government's project."

"That is so," Law replied with a nod. "What are you trying to say aside from the obvious?"

A vein pulsed in Akainu's forehead. "What stage is it at, again?"

"Near perfected, though there are several unpleasant side effects," the other drawled, emphasizing on the word 'unpleasant'.

When the Surgeon of Death used such a word, it was bad news. "Exactly what side effects?" Akainu was developing half a mind to fire _him_, that dratted man who did his work too well.

"Vomiting, headaches, fevers, symptoms that indicate a very bad flu and such, the effects vary from the dosage used. It is recommended to use the amount I have clearly stated to in order to assure the victi- patient will not die from it, or suffer permanent mental damages. However, it does prolong memory block by twice the original amount of time, you know that very well."

Akainu's eyes narrowed at the Shichibukai's odd slip up and decided to ignore the small blip. His tone was grim as he said, "Then if double the recommended dosage was administered, what will happen?"

"Then… the memory block would be more effective, but the possibility of more lethal side-effects will double as well." Law was morbidly cheerful as he responded, eyes shining strangely. "Death becomes a very real possibility."

"Does the same apply to the weapon?"

"Perhaps not. He's a pretty strong one, but who knows?" The Shichibukai shrugged nonchalantly, adjusting his fluffy spotted cap. "I can't guarantee his health. Be thankful if the weapon comes back physically fit with his mental sanity intact at all." He was exaggerating slightly but he wasn't about to let the other man know, although the overdose situation was worrying. In theory Ace's devil fruit powers would allow him to burn off the drug fairly quickly before too much settled in, yet he had specifically set the amount in accordance to that. What he wouldn't give for another experimenting session with the freckled man…

Sakazuki pounded the mahogany table in frustration, upsetting the pile of paperwork as they fluttered in the air and scattered themselves among the room. "Damn him!" he spat out.

"Fleet Admiral, you really shouldn't do that. It's an expensive desk you have there." Law's creepy smirk grew wider as his irritated superior bent down with a huff to pick up the dispersed papers. "By the way, isn't he your subordinate? You should be able to control him and keep him in line as his superior."

"I told him not to even use it yet!" Akainu growled. furiously.

"Maybe it would've been a better idea to not even put this entire retarded plan set by the World Government into action, don't you think? They really didn't think through it, since there are numerous amount of flaws I can easily pick out."

Taking a long, deep breath, the Fleet Admiral shoved down his boiling fury over Law's insulting and blasphemous words. He counted silently to ten, then finally said, "Didn't you two grow up together?"

"It was merely a business partnership for a short while and nothing more. I wish you good luck in your case." And with that, Law left behind a still fuming and infuriated Fleet Admiral, savoring over the older man's helplessness and aggravation. Serves him right.

* * *

Before Ace had time to reply, his keen ears picked up the slightest sound of controlled footsteps brushing past the smooth seastone floor. In panic, he whirled around to see the figure of his commander silhouetted by the moonlight, face contorted into the expression of anger. "What the hell are you doing here?" he thundered, unperturbed by the sleeping presence of the pirates.

Shit.

Cold sweat broke out as Ace's heart pounded faster, mouth dried and unable to produce any words. There were no excuses he could use, not when Shigeru had made it clear he was to stay away from the Straw Hats because of the circumstances he was in and the chances of him sleepwalking and chancing upon the lower floor was zero, even if he did have strange sleeping habits. As far as he could think, there was no way he could save himself. He cursed at his blind sight; it was obvious Shigeru would guess he'd try something like this, and he was simply too ignorant and conveniently overlooked that fact, falling directly into the unintentional trap.

"Well?" Scowling, Shigeru tapped his feet impatiently as he crossed his arms, awaiting an answer.

"I have no excuses." He bowed his head in an ashamed manner, voice apologetic and somber. "I won't try it again." Hopefully, Shigeru would buy his submissive act and let down his guard enough to not be overly paranoid when Ace came up with a surefire way to communicate with Straw Hat.

It worked as Shigeru's tone softened minutely. "There are honestly things you'd be better off not knowing… honestly better for all of us." Beckoning him forwards, the older man turned around and limped awkwardly back the stairs, glancing back every now and then for any suspicious movements. He was satisfied to see that there was none as Ace trailed obediently behind, albeit his expression was a disappointed one.

Little did he know that within the time span, the freckled man had discreetly seared a small insignificant piece of paper with a message, and the piece floated gently to the bars where Straw Hat was held, unnoticed by all but him.

Frustration settled in Luffy as he watched his brother's dwindling shadow disappear up the stairs with that other man.

So close, yet so far away.

He gritted his teeth, hands clenching together tightly into fists as he fought to restrain his anger. Out of the corner of his eye, Luffy noticed a tiny scrap resting innocently by the metal bars and crawled closer, leaning in to take a look. His eyes widened when he saw a neat blackened script imprinted on the piece and reached out to read it properly, rattling his obnoxious seastone chains as he did so. "I'll be back," he read quietly to himself, looking back up to the staircase where his brother had disappeared up.

Hope flared in his chest, fierce and bright. Ace will be back, and he always kept his promises.

Tucking the paper carefully in the folds of the red sash always wrapped tightly around his straw hat, he curled back up onto the grimy mat, twisting into a somewhat comfortable position as he hugged his precious hat closer to himself.

"Ne, Captain."

Luffy jerked in shock, hearing Robin's voice as if she was leaning right next to him. "… Robin?" he said in a hushed whisper, eyes darting around the dim cells to see that the historian was lying on her side, apparently deep in sleep. Then he noticed rosy lips jutting out from the walls, along with a pale ear. So that was it.

"What was on the piece of paper?" It was strange watching only lips move and seeing no face that corresponded to the voice.

Grinning, he read out loud, "I'll be back."

"… I see…" she muttered thoughtfully. "That will definitely help with our plan."

"Yeah," Luffy agreed. "So when are we gonna start? I'm getting impatient."

Robin chuckled. "We have to wait at least until we reach the headquarters, you know that."

The rubber teen pouted. "But it's sooo long! I don't want to be stuck here forever. It already feels like it."

"I understand, Captain. But as you know very well, we cannot do anything at the current stage except wait. Perhaps you can talk to your brother about this when he comes back."

Luffy was silent for a moment. Then he said at last. "He also doesn't seem completely brainwashed, you know. 'Cause the way Zoro said it it's like he became a completely different person, but I can still feel Ace there."

He saw the floating lips smile as she replied, "Your brother is a strong person. He hasn't been broken yet, so he maintains his personality, but are you sure we can trust him? We do not fully understand what he went through these past two years, or how much he understands about himself."

"Yeah, I know that. But I trust my brother. He's not going to betray us."

"You can't know that," Robin said cautiously. "After all, he seems to be confused right now. I do not know what stories the Government fed him, and he could very well believe himself to be a volunteer to their sick experiment. But Captain, let us discuss this tomorrow. Please sleep now, it's late."

"Awww, okay then. Night!"

"Goodnight."

Robin's face disappeared into cherry blossoms and Luffy childishly batted one of them, only to find the flower petals to melt to nothing at touch like delicate snowflakes.

* * *

After his failed expedition late last night, Ace spent most of the next day holed up in his room, drawing up detailed plans on how to engage Straw Hat again without any interference. He was steadily running out of precious time, he knew, as they were to be put on an elaborate trial at the Marine Headquarters itself, then almost certainly sentenced to Impel down to be executed at a later notice. There was merely five days counting today until their arrival at the HQ, and in the duration of the five days Shigeru had constructed a complex graph of soldiers to be patrolling on the different hallways at specific times, giving Ace a very hard job of finding the correct time placement to weave through to the holding cells, not to mention a permanent sentry that switched duty every two hours in front of the staircase down. Worst case scenario, he knocked out everyone and proceeded onwards, but he couldn't help but feel that Straw Hat had a plan up his sleeves as well and doing so might jeopardize whatever the pirates had in mind.

He also spent a fair amount of time pondering his current situation, trying to discern truth from lie. It was definite that a mind wipe was administered on him before his first solid memory and from there on he spent his life dealing with missions he was handed as well as trying to uncover his lost memories. However, there was always a flicker of uncertainty that perhaps he had willingly offered himself to the experiment without knowing the full repercussions of his decision and with nothing to refute that fact, he couldn't dismiss the small chance either.

And now the swordsman from the Straw Hats had used the word brainwash, seemingly implying that he was forced into his miserable position through manipulation. He honestly hoped that was true. The possibility was obviously far more tempting and believable, but he had seen enough examples to know people often leaned towards one direction with bias though it may not inherently be the right one. Was that him now?

"Um, Ace."

The freckled man literally leaped into the air as his concentration was shattered, jostling the detailed notes everywhere and sending them in a flurry. He hastily snatched them out of the air and stuffed them in a drawer, away from curious watching eyes. "Hi," he said with an uneasy smile.

"Do you want to eat dinner?" the young soldier said timidly, running a hand through chestnut brown locks. "Commander noticed you didn't eat breakfast or lunch, so…"

"Err…" Frankly, Ace had all but forgotten about food for the entire day, and his stomach rumbled obnoxiously as a reminder. His cheeks became a delicate shade of red.

"Great!" the other said brightly. "That's settled, then, I'll tell the cook to make something extra nice." And with that, the door slid shut once more, leaving Ace to his own peace and quiet.

With a sigh, he drew out the sheaf of blueprints and meticulously made schedules once more, examining them even more closely. If he was right, the visit exactly coincided with the scheduled time. It had to be Shigeru checking up on him.

Sighing a second time, he stuffed all the papers back into another drawer and locked it, stowing the key away in his pocket. Around this time, it'd be safe to venture out and begin with the first step. The control and steering room was located in a convenient location in the hall running parallel to his, and it was also on the way to the galley and mess hall if he took a small detour. If he was correct in his assumptions, they'd be traveling on the fastest knot, and he'd have to slow down the process somehow. It was risky due to New World's unpredictable and downright uncanny weather, but he had minimized the chances of running to the dangerous spots.

In another few minutes, there would be a fresh guard that'd show up on his wing, right after the one down the halls, at least in theory. He was willing to bet most of them had run off duty in anticipation for an early dinner, and true to his thoughts they were nowhere in sight. Confidence renewed, he took off, amused to see all the inhabited rooms slightly ajar and vacant. He had to admit that the rich aroma drifting down was very tempting as his stomach growled a second time.

He ducked back into the hall and peeked towards the commanding room, letting out a silent sigh of relief that he ran back just in time before the navigator spotted him.

The navigator was a jolly mid-aged man with a bushy mustache and a bulging waistline, who paid no notice to the watching shadow as he conversed cheerfully with one of the soldiers, making several hand gestures as he talked. "I get you, young man," he laughed and clapped the younger strongly on the back. Pushing the soldier forwards, the two strolled off towards the direction of the kitchen.

_Thank goodness_, Ace thought inwardly. Taking a final look to make sure the two were gone, he darted into the now-empty room filled with multiple computer screens, each showcasing a different segment of the ship. In the middle was the helm, along with a log pose placed to the side. Snapping on a pair of gloves, he drew out a round piece of magnet cleverly painted as wood, sticking it meticulously onto the back of the sea compass to make sure no sides stuck out. This should confuse the log pose with its magnetic field and slow down the process of locking onto another island. The ship was designed to set its speed and direction in accordance to the log pose, so confusing it would hopefully buy him some more much-needed plan.

Satisfied with his makeshift work, he glanced out the room, glad that there was no one in sight. Once more, Ace made his way towards the mess hall with a small grin.

There were obviously several flaws in the plan. The navigator would surely notice a noticeable decrease in speed, and it'll all go downhill from there. But he was banking on the fact that he wouldn't notice the change immediately and before it happened he'll have talked to Straw Hat before then.

With the optimistic thought in mind, he continued onwards and arrived at the mess hall, already beginning to drool from the delicious fragrance the food had emitted.

* * *

**Oh Law, how much I love you~ I am in a Law mood these days because he _finally _showed up in the anime, goodness how long I've waited for the moment. I am drooling in his awesomeness and his voice.**

**After much editing, I finally deemed it fit to publish this chapter. I'm glad I had the foresight to write most of it before I fell sick (pretty much got kicked out of school because they didn't want me to spread my sickness to other people and I even missed a big test, darn it!). Please pay attention to small details, because I have been hinting towards a very obvious conclusion about the serum, and I pretty much spelled it out fully in this chapter so if you still don't understand… well… Also, I am starting to insert random sentences in the beginning of the chapter that is relevant to what the chapter is about, or foreshadow something so do pay attention to those as well.**

**Hope you guys enjoyed reading it! And as always, remember to review, it makes me happy and update faster as I have done here.**

**~Shen**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. If I did, all this stuff going on in the manga won't be half as awesome as it is right now. **

* * *

The mess hall was a loud place, even with the few numbers of staff and soldiers communed together in the space. Perhaps it was because it was the only time to fully relax and not be focused on work, or it was simply the cook's marvelous cooking that lifted everyone's spirits. The marines chatted animated with each other on various topics, completely unwound from the usual tense atmosphere. However, one who sat on the edge was a glaring exception, forming a silent dark cloud above him that none noticed.

Ace played idly with his food, sorting the miscellaneous vegetables in his salad into small groups on his plate. Another piece of corn was scooted by his fork into its respective pile while his mind was occupied with long trains of thought, his magnet on the log pose being foremost among the flow of information. His fidgeting hand twirled the metal utensil, coated with a thin sheen of sweat from nervousness. But all signs of anxiety were well hidden as his face remained a smooth emotional mask, the only giveaway being his disordered eating. With another vicious stab, he finally decided the salad would most likely remain untouched and stood up, lifting his tray with the intent on dumping it in the compost.

Two steps away from the trashcan, he choked on a breath from what he saw.

Down the vacant hallway, the navigator stormed in furiously, face a deep maroon shade and mustache bristling. Shouting profanities, he waved a small object in the air. "Alright, who the hell stuck this on the log pose, huh?! Who was the bastard that did this?!" Ace's heart sank into his stomach, but his mind was still in disbelief. He could not believe that his plan was so quickly foiled just like this; he had underestimated the man.

His deafening voice silenced the loud and chatty cafeteria within moments as all gaze zeroed on his livid expression. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shigeru's eyes narrow suspiciously as he eyed the object held firmly in the beefy man's grasp and knew that the commander must be suspecting he was the culprit.

Ace ran through options in his mind with lightning speed, and-

"I- I did it, sir!" one of the soldiers stood up abruptly, his chair clattering noisily onto the floor behind him. He bowed his head. "I'm so sorry, sir!"

What?

Then upon closer inspection, Ace saw that the object was in fact a thick wad of cute girly stickers stacked messily together with clear signs of being peeled roughly off a surface, and certainly not a strong magnet that would confuse the Log Pose. He breathed a silent sigh of relief and resumed dumping his tray, glad that it was not what he believed to be, though he had to command that soldier's bravery to have the guts and stick stickers like _that _when the navigator was an easily angered and violent man.

As his magnet was not discovered, it meant that he could begin phase two tonight. Good.

… He still couldn't get past those ridiculous stickers, though.

* * *

Somewhere far away was the dim room lit up only by the multiple monitors, ghastly test tubes, and glowing bottles of mysterious substances. Strange organs and body parts were contained in sealed jars, dotted around the room. A Bunsen burner gave off a green flame as it slowly heated up a thick bubbling liquid, letting off purple vapors not unlike a witch's cauldron. In another icebox stashed by a large cabinet in the corner, hearts were frozen for later experimenting, and one of the nearest containers was the freshly unfrozen organ, vigorously beating away despite the evident lack of veins to pump blood through. Computer screens resembled colorful lanterns as they added to the eerie glow of experiments, flickering on and off from the long lack of disuse.

And amongst all the mess was, Trafalgar Law, deeply buried in thick wads of paper and research as he typed rapidly away on the slim keyboard, focused solely on the screen in front of him. The bags under his eyes were even more pronounced than before from several nights without sleep. He took a long gulp of black coffee, continuing to type with one hand.

"Hmm…"

The incessant tapping ceased, replaced by a series of patterned clicks. "How interesting…" he murmured quietly in the empty room. "It's a fifty fifty chance, depending on how well he can fight it off, providing _he _doesn't interfere. General signs of stress, borderline madness…"

The liquid began to bubble faster, steam shifting into a light and translucent shade of magenta.

"I probably should have gone a little lighter on that… perhaps ketamine was an unnecessary element in it. Looks like it could go without it and that only adds to more damage." More typing. "And add a little of that, as well… This might lower the percentages even further down to forty… As long as nothing acts as an extra trigger, it should be fine."

He keyed in several new pieces of data in a spreadsheet filled with complex formulas and meticulously recorded number, drawing up a new graph through the fresh statistics.

There was still the factor of the project's devil fruit to take into mind, as it was natural for his curious physique to burn off drugs at a faster rate than normal humans. Would lessening some of these elements cause the intended effect of the serum to decrease its time limit? It might cause the entire balance to become disturbed. It called for another ten test trials.

Now… scopolamine? That was an element he didn't remember adding in his hazy, sleep-muddled mind, and it was a redundant chemical in his concoction that would increase the probability of general psychosis, something he obviously didn't want. But it was also not possible for someone to simply sneak in a substance in his drug like this, not when he was the sole worker in his locked lab. And he was pretty damn sure no one knew where his lab was in the first place except Bepo, who would never say a word about his doings.

Frowning, he flipped back to the very first data collected, initially tested on various breeds of mice. Sometime between the fifth and sixth trial scopolamine was subtly sneaked in among the different components listed, yet he couldn't recall anything about the desire of double-loading chemicals for inducing amnesia. This was altogether very confusing for him, as he was functioning in the middle of the night after three straight days without sleep. Dismissing it as a slip of memory, he continued on, though there was still a small amount of suspicion that lingered.

Wait. Right… He now knew why he had decided to add scopolamine, as an additional chemical in case the project's devil fruit burned it off too quickly, but clearly also remembered taking out the component when it proved that the negative effects were simply too great. In the next column after he had withdrew it, the amount had tripled from what he started with when he unmistakably stopped using it. It wasn't a slip of data, because it was continued to be used in this amount in the continuous doses.

Someone meddled with his notes.

Some mysterious person had the nerve to touch his private and precious lab records, fiddled around and messed them up, resulting problems that shouldn't be there in the first place. A slow, maniacal grin spread across his face, eyes glittering maliciously. When Law found out exactly who the person was, the culprit would suffer in the most painful ways, hopefully involving skewering the heart and dismembering the body to add to his vast collection. Yes, that sounded perfect.

* * *

It was late; the crescent moon a thin sliver of light against the inky black of night, tiny specks that were stars dotted across this midnight tapestry and offered a limited amount of light in the darkened world. All in all, the stillness became a perfect cover for Ace to sneak around. The ones who were not on duty, he knew, were deep in sleep and snoring peacefully away on their warm beds, oblivious to even the loudest noises as he had the misfortune to find out when they first set sail for Elysia. Giving his scrupulously mapped out chart one final sweep, he locked it safely in the drawer and ventured cautiously out, eyes darting side to side for any suspicious activity. There should be none.

He dashed to the other side and slipped into an empty room, keeping the door ajar as he crouched behind the wall, stealing a quick glance over to the corridor. Within five seconds, one of the guards had emerged with a flashlight in hand from the corner, flashing a zigzag number on the ground as he hummed quietly to himself and made sure no unwanted person was lurking. Ace did not miss the furtive glance the marine had shot towards his room and saw the slightest indication of relief on the man's face as the light patterns became more erratic, his grip lessening almost unnoticeably.

The freckled man crept out of the room and stealthily down the hall, ducking back into another as a second guard came his direction. This one remained for a good two minutes, walking the small length over and over again as if expecting someone to pop out of nowhere and frighten the wits out of him. Well, in theory Ace could do that but it ruined the point of being covert. After one final look over his shoulder, the soldier cleared the hallway and continued on to his next segment.

All was going according to plan as he carefully counted the number of seconds it would approximately take for the next to come across. When the coast was finally clear, he walked warily out again as the guard was shrouded once more in darkness hundreds of meters away, only to double back in one of the rooms as he accidentally missed it and went into the wrong one instead.

This specific room had a strange hidden door he stumbled upon by chance. For whatever reasons, the shipbuilder had added a passageway leading right to the lower level in the ship but kept it well-camouflaged against the pale background of walls, blending in perfectly. Careful to not upset any of the oblivious inhabitant's belongings, he tiptoed over the strewn clothes and miscellaneous objects to where the secret corridor was incased, running his fingertips lightly over where the outline was cunningly marked.

The faint lines glowed a soft silver, illuminating the invisibly etched glyphs that appeared when the door was activated, mystic runes Ace had yet to decipher if there was any true meaning to it at all. He tapped the surface lightly, and it swung open smoothly with barely any sound, leading into a descending stairs of pitch black. He stepped in the darkness; the entrance shutting in noiselessly and blocking any remainder of moonlight. Raising a finger, he concentrated and lit the appendage on fire, a small ball of light to guide his way.

Ace made his way down the stairs, mindful not to slip on the impossibly glossy and slippery steps. One misplaced foot would send him toppling roughly down and stop in a crashing halt in front of the exit, causing bruises and scratches he didn't need. One time was enough. So with the embarrassing likelihood in mind, he kept his free hand trailing against the metallic walls for extra support, walking extra slowly to prevent the accident from repeating itself.

Finally he reached the bottom of the long descent safely and let out a relieved sigh. As he tapped the exit wall twice, he distinguished his flame before it drew attention. It swung open like the entrance, pale moonlight spilling in. Through the darkness Ace made out the form of a guard slumped against the doorway leading to the cells, snoring obnoxiously and unaware to the unwanted intruder. The freckled man crept past the sleeping man easily, melting into the shadows once more as he closed the door behind him.

As soon as he stepped in, he was aware of several pairs of eyes immediately zeroing in on him, staring sharply at him. They were all awake.

He marched on despite the wary looks he received, ignoring how distrustful most of them were; some even strangely seemed to be accusatory. It was almost as if he was being put on trial with everyone on the opponent's side, though he morbidly thought that if this was a trial, he'd plead guilty. For some reason he felt that he had wronged them all, even though he didn't even know who they were. The curious feeling only grew and nagged him constantly as he came face to face with the captain.

Luffy's face was an impassive one as he silently regarded the older with scrutinizing eyes, exuding so much power through his mere presence even though he was chained and barred.

Ace cleared his throat and shifted uneasily. "Well, I'm here now…"

An awkward silence passed.

"You don't remember me, or anyone else here?" the Straw Hat captain said quietly.

Almost regretfully, Ace shook his head slowly. "Sorry."

The younger bowed his head sadly and clenched his fists tightly together. "Nothing?" The short word came as a barely heard whispered, yet so packed with emotion. Anguish. Desperation. Pain. Fury.

Resisting the sudden desire to walk in the cell and comfort the Straw Hat, he shook his head a second time. Watching the other's expression drop again tore painfully at his heart; he just couldn't stand Luffy being hurt like this, even if he didn't know who he was. "Sorry," he said, hoping to offer a tiny bit of consolation.

Luffy smiled sadly as he looked up. "Guess Robin was right, then. They really took away your memories."

"Yeah…" he replied lamely, hands playing with the hem of his shirt. "I don't even know who I am anymore." The deeply-buried confession spilled out so easily from his heart that it surprised him. It was something he always kept hidden away in the darkest corners but thought constantly, spending all his free hours pondering over the question. Who was he? And where did he come from?

The answer that always came foremost was a demon, a disgusting monster that killed in cold-blood and shed hundreds of innocent blood that permanently stained his hands. A man like himself doesn't deserve the gift of life, not when he had done so many unspeakable things under the mere whim of his superior to the people often without a second thought. The hesitation and guilt had long eroded to resignation, and the process would only happen to a demon that had no heart and humanity. He was so sure that he was just an unwanted person casted away by society, and there was no point for people like him to exist in this world. No one wanted him except the government, who used him for experiments and shady missions to keep their glorious name unblemished.

Gol D. Ace. The name was so nauseatingly fitting for someone like him. It was almost as if he continued the legacy of the renowned Pirate King, sharing the man's last name. The Pirate King was the Devil himself to the people's eyes having conquered the seas, and here he was, bearing the surname with a long streak of sins.

So it surprised him when the Straw Hat captain responded so quickly, so easily, "You're Portgas D. Ace, of course. My brother."

… Portgas? The last name sparked unexplainable warmth in his chest, a feeling of comfort and happiness that filled his depressed and miserable shell. And it seemed right, even though he didn't recognize it as anything note-worthy. Nothing of the World nobles, the leaders, royalty, the government, simply nothing.

But he was Gol. D Ace, not Portgas. "You're wrong," he corrected, feeling a strange obligation. "I'm Gol D. Ace."

Luffy registered shock. "I never thought you'd take up that name… Why do you call yourself that?"

"Because that's my name, one of the first things I was ever told." He didn't mention the fact that he yearned to be called Portgas as opposed what he currently held, even if the desire was overpowering; the words wanted frantically to slip through his lips.

"It's so strange to see you calling yourself that," the Straw Hat said. "You hated the name so much."

It was funny how the exact sentiments had crossed over from his amnesia to his present state. "Why?"

"They didn't tell you?"

Ace shook his head numbly.

"Roger was your dad, and you hated him."

His identity crisis suddenly got a whole lot more complicated than before.

* * *

**(I was playing Demons by Imagine Dragons on repeat while I was typing out the last scene, and gosh that felt so awesome! (Total Imagine Dragons fan~) The title fits so perfectly with Ace's introspection, don't you all think?)**

** I sincerely apologize for the late update, as I'm too caught up with writing a few side stories I plan to publish soon, one of them being a very sappy romance I didn't know I was even capable of thinking up, inspired by an equally sappy romance song that I've been listening since it came out six or seven years ago. I've also decided on adding AceLu to the story, but I'm also leaving it open-ended enough to be interpreted both ways as romantic affection and brotherly affection for non-AceLu fans.**

**Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! And as usual, leave a review! They make me happy and motivated to write more quickly. ;)**

**~Shen**


End file.
